Jareth's Daughter
by KayBeth13
Summary: Rae Williams, daughter of Sarah Williams. Looks nothing like her family members. Why? Oh, maybe because a certain Goblin King put a spell on Sarah's firstborn so that she'd never forget him...
1. IntroducingRae Williams!

_Me again. I don't own Labyrinth. No more to say, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show..._

_The name's Rae. Well, really it's Leanne, but I never really liked the name. see, I've always been somewhat of a tomboy at heart, ever since I can remember. A name like leanne didn't suit me, and I didn't want to shorten it to something predictable like lee, so my friends decided to come up with a nickname. Someone mentioned the name rae, as my middle name's Rachel and I kinda liked it, so the name stuck._

_mom hated it that I changed my name, but I just calmly told her that I was asserting my independence and that if I wanted to be a celebrity like her one day, I had to have a catchy name, not something easily forgettable like the name leanne Rachel Williams. You may have guessed it. My mom's the famous actress Sarah Williams. Whoopee. _

_It's not that I don't love mom or anything, it's just that she can drive me insane at times, especially when she gives me the whole "school's important, don't screw up" crap. Whatever. It's not like I don't know the stuff, coz I do. It's just that I want to be a professional martial artist, and where does education come into place for doing something like that? Nowhere. _

_I know mom secretly wants me to go into acting and become the next sarah Williams, but thanks, but no thanks. I'm good at acting, I've been in every school production for the past seven years, but it doesn't mean I enjoy it. I usually only do it to get the teacher off my back. Plus, it usually brings a lot of press to the shows because I'm the kid of a celeb._

_That's the worst part of being related to my mom; press. They follow you everywhere, ignoring your privacy and destroying your social life. I've never liked publicity. I've always been the kid that sits at the back ignoring everyone, not the kid at the front attracting everyone's attention. Mom's disappointed about that. She never says it, but I just know that she wants me to be more like my twin brother, Caleb, or Cale as I call him._

_Cale. Probably the best and worst thing in my life. He's the biggest pain in the ass when he's in one of his 'jock' moods, yet he's also the most kind and supportive person in my life when I'm feeling down. Well, not quite the most supportive. That job goes to Hoggle._

_Who's hoggle? You might ask. Well, it's a really long story. When me and Cale were really young, mom used to tell us a story about a princess who always did what her evil stepmother told her, especially when it involved caring for the baby. Mom told us that the princess knew the goblin king loved her and so he took the baby away, but the girl regretted it and ran through the labyrinth, and became the only human ever to be able to retrieve the baby. She made friends along the way, and one of them, a goblin named hoggle, told her that if she ever needed him, she was to look in a mirror and say she needed him. Mom told us it was just a story, but the way she said it made me think otherwise._

_Well, one day when mom and cale were out, I sat in front of the large mirror on mom's dresser. I peered into it and took a breath before talking. _

"_I need to see you, goblin king"_

_For about a minute, there was nothing., I did think it was a bit strange, even if I was only 5, I should've known it was crazy. Well, imagine my absolute horror when a face that did not belong to me eventually appeared in the mirror. I sat there, frozen in fear and a small mew came out of my mouth. He looked straight at me with mismatched eyes._

"_you called miss?" he spoke in a soft voice._

_Immediately, I screamed and as I heard the front door closed, I ran out of the room screaming for mom. Let's just say, I never tried THAT one again. I can't help but wonder what he would have said though, had I told him who mom was. She said that the goblin king hates the princess, and since I figured mom was the princess, I don't think he'd appreciate her daughter butting into his life. I will admit though, looking at him I felt as though I'd seen him somewhere before._

_It wasn't until I was nine that I decided to do it again, except this time, I called for hoggle. Not soon after, a small knobbly head appeared and looked at me. He looked really shocked. I knew it couldn't be because I looked like mom, because I didn't._

"_hello, what can I do's for you?" he asked me. _

_I remember I giggled at his accent. He asked me who I was, and once I told him I was Sarah's daughter, he looked at me in shock again._

"_really? But you look just like…"_

"_who"_

"_never mind. So, sarah has a child does she?"_

"_two, actually. There's me and my twin brother. We're nine. She's also pregnant with another set of twins. They think that they're going to also be one girl and one boy"_

_The rest of the conversation was just the pair of us talking about everything, and he told me a few more details about mom and the goblin king, who's name I remember to be Jareth. It was a really nice conversation, but it had to be cut short because mom came home from her 24 week scan. She told me that it was actually two boys that she was having. I think she was expecting me to be disappointed, but I gave her a huge grin and started cheering. I didn't want sisters, never have done. When mom turned her back to me, I glanced at the mirror and I could've sworn I saw Jareth looking at her sadly, but when I blinked, he was gone._

_It wasn't until nearly a year after Jake and Connor were born that I spoke to hoggle again. He asked me how they were and I showed him a picture of them. He said that they both looked like mom, and I smiled._

"_yep. All the boys do. Apparently mom doesn't know who I look like. She said that it's weird because I don't look like her or dad, but I'm their child."_

_Hoggle frowned, but when I asked what was wrong he wouldn't tell me. Instead he asked if I was the firstborn. I remember sitting up straight and nodding really fast._

"_yep, I sure am! Eight hours older than my brother!"_

_He frowned even more then, and said he had to go, then disappeared. I slumped a bit, disappointed, but connor started crying, so I crouched down to pick him up. _

_When I stood up, I saw the face in the mirror again. This time I knew it wasn't a figment of my imagination, because this time he stayed there and smiled. I smiled back, then tried to untangle Connor's hand from my hair. He had a thing for my hair. Usually I was on the ball and could stop him before he could play with it, but I wasn't so fortunate this time._

"_owww, owww, owww, owww!" I hissed as I finally got his hands away._

_He began to cry, and this set jake off too. I looked back at the mirror and saw Jareth was still there._

"_you could help instead of just watching me!" I muttered, making sure it was quiet enough so he wouldn't hear it._

_Next thing I knew, a long pair of arms reached down and picked jake up. I watched, mouth open as the man in the mirror picked jake up off the mat and began rocking him like he would his own child. He placed jake in his crib once he quietened down, then turned to look at me. I hadn't moved, and my mouth was still open, making him smile._

"_you know, it's be much more pleasant to see you smile rather with your mouth hanging open like that."_

_I closed my mouth, but couldn't smile. I was too shocked._

"_but…how…huh?"_

_He looked at me, almost as if making fun of me._

"_magic." was all he said._

_I heard the front door open then and caleb called up to tell me that he'd be up to help put the twins to bed in a sec. I turned to say that I had it under control, and when I turned back, the magnificent man had disappeared. He still seemed familiar to me though._

_Another five years passed before I saw the strange man again. The twins were now coming up to six, and me and Caleb were now fifteen, only two weeks off our sweet sixteenth. Well, his sweet sixteenth, my sour sixteenth. Mom had married the twin's dad Robert, and they'd had another baby, Elizabeth. Yep, a GIRL! Robert was cool, but I just couldn't accept him like Caleb did._

_I say it was my sour sixteenth because no-one cared about me. God knows I'd tried to fit in and make friends, but nobody wanted the quiet and pushover twin, they wanted the strong, good looking athletic one. What no-one knew was that I was actually better looking and better at sport than Caleb was, and he was actually as smart as me, but I preferred to hide behind my books and make a life for myself, and he preferred to be a jock. Not that I really cared. _

_It wasn't until the bullying started that I lost it with everyone. Mom had no time for me as she was busy with Elizabeth and the twins, and to Robert, Caleb was the only kid he had. Even Caleb stopped really bothering with me as he was more into going out on dates with as many girls as he could. When some of the other girls started making fun of me every day at school, I kept it to myself, but once they started actually hitting me on my way home from school, I felt I had to tell someone. Since all the members of my family were too busy with each other, I felt there was only one person I could talk to…_

"_Jareth, I need you…please"_

_There was a slight pause, and suddenly, a barn owl swooped in through my open window and before I knew it, it had transformed into Jareth._

"_Yes, Miss Williams?" _

_I looked at him guiltily._

"_Heh, so you finally found out huh?" I asked him_

_He smiled._

"_no, Hoggle told me"_

_He began to chuckle as he saw my face twist into my 'he is so dead' look. His face grew serious though when he looked at my face._

"_what happened to your face?" he asked me, genuinely worried._

_I told him all about the bullies, about how everyone was busy, and how I felt that he was the only person I could speak to about it. He listened to me, then told me that he would personally sort the issue out. He flashed me a smile and I had to take a step back._

"_holy sh…ahem. I mean oh my god!"_

_He raised an eyebrow at me, confused a the sudden outburst, so I filled him in._

"_well, when I first saw you in the mirror when I was nine, I though you looked familiar, but couldn't place it. Then again when I was ten, I couldn't place it, but I just looked at you and then at the mirror and realised why I thought you're familiar. I look just like you! How on earth is that possible!" I yelled._

_Mom must've come home early, because next thing I knew she was in my room, startling both me and Jareth. She screamed when she saw him, and told me to get away from him. I ignored her and asked my question again. He looked at me and smiled, then looked at mom with an icy expression._

"_how do you like our daughter Sarah?" he asked._

_Both mine and mom's jaws dropped. It must have looked funny as Jareth smirked and his eyes flashed with amusement._

_After about three hours of yelling, I finally found out that after mom defeated him, Jareth was so enraged, he put a spell on her so that her first born would actually be his child and look just like him so that she would never forget him. I thought it was cool, but mom told him to stay away from us._

"_as you wish," he began, ignoring my small protest. "I will leave you and your children alone. However, I will NOT leave my daughter alone, not unless she wishes it."_

_He looked at me and I shook my head, stating that I've always wanted to now my father and that I didn't want him to leave my life. He smiled at me then turned back to mom._

"_it's settled. I will return on her eighteenth birthday. Until then I bid you, adieu."_

_He gave ,me a hug and kissed my forehead. He looked at my shelf and I saw what looked like a crystal appear. He whispered to me that if I ever needed to, I was to peer into it and wish myself to the goblin castle, but only in an emergency. _

_He gave mom one last look, then disappeared in a haze of mist and glitter. The second he was gone, mom started screaming, mentioning all of the things she wanted to do to him, and quite successfully scaring me. As she stormed out of my room, I found myself not caring. Instead, I took hold of the crystal and stroked it, thinking to myself:_

_Only two years and three months to go…_

_Little did I know, it was going to happen a lot sooner than I expected…_


	2. The nightmare pt 1

"Leanne, get out of bed!" mom yelled.

I growled in frustration. How many times did I have to tell her that my name was RAE? It didn't matter, since finding out about what Jare…I mean dad, did to her, she's refused to acknowledge me except to shout at me or find something wrong with me. It's been a year since I last saw dad. I've tried to talk to him by asking for him at the mirror, but it's always Hoggle that answers telling me that dad is busy and cannot speak.

I still have the crystal he gave me. I keep it in a velvet lined box, that I hide under my bed so that mom can't destroy it before I have the chance to use it. I soon found out that the crystal had more than one use. As well as it taking me to dad in an emergency, I found that if I was having problems sleeping, all I had to do was hold it and a song would play, a soft and gentle voice singing that would have me in a deep slumber within seconds of the first note being played.

Anyway, back to mom shouting. Once I heard her go back into the living room, I pulled myself out of bed, then after having a quick shower to wake up a bit, I dressed in a pair of pale blue jeans and a baby pink halter neck. Usually I don't go for the girlie look, but today, I just felt in a good mood and so dressed to reflect that.

Entering the kitchen, I stopped and stared in horror at the sight. Mom was standing by the counter holding the side of her face, a large red mark slowly creeping up on the surface of her flawless complexion. Robert was standing next to her, lowering his hand. It wasn't the first time it had happened. He hit me all the time, he hit mom and the twins all the time too. He never hit Cale or Elizabeth though. Probably because cale would kill him and elizabeth is his little girl. He turned to me and smiled.

"hey Rae. Ready for the big day?" he asked as if nothing had happened.

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Immediately, my good mood went flying out of the window and was replaced by the feeling of anger and hatred. Anger for what I was doing and hatred for mom forcing me into it. I gave mom a worried glance and she gave me a shaky smile before turning back to the stove and continuing to fry a couple of sausages.

Today, I was going to be starting at the Verity school for Performing Arts. Cale had moved to another city to attend the sports academy he applied for. I applied for a martial arts academy over in Japan, but as soon as mom found out, she pulled my application out of that school, and into the nearest arts academy. Bitch. I tried to speak to dad about it and ask for his help, but once again, he was too busy to talk. Typical parent.

Robert was being particularly evil today. Within an hour of me eating breakfast and packing my bag for the day, he hit me twice, mom three times and hit both of the twins a couple of times each. I feel most sorry for Connor, especially when Jake walked off and left him sitting on the floor crying, and I was the one to pick him up and reassure him that everything would be ok.

The twins are now both seven. Jake is the taller of the two and is by far the more boisterous of the two. Connor is a lot like me, very calm, collected and kept himself to himself. I tend to not get on with jake because I find him too much like his dad, but me and connor are extremely close. I almost feel like he's my son rather than my brother.

Anyway, mom and Robert bundled us all into the car, dropped the twins off to school, took elizabeth to playschool, the finally pulled up in front of the college. I sighed before climbing out. Mom also climbed out, and gave me a hug wishing me luck. I just glared at her. She gave me a small smile, reminded me to behave, then got back in the car and drove off.

Well, apart from being shouted at a hundred times, I counted them all, then being given a detention, punched by one of the girls and given a stack of extra homework, I'd say the day wasn't too bad. Pffft. Whatever. I hated it. All of the teachers had this expectation that the daughter of THE Sarah Williams would be a protégée, how mistaken they were when they realised I did not want to be there and I was damn sure going to make them know about it.

The final straw that day happened when cale came home for a surprise visit, and walked into the living room as robert hit me so hard, I fell over the sofa and hit the coffee table. HARD. I groaned and felt the back of my head, panicking when I looked at my hand and saw it covered in blood. My head fell back and I closed my eyes to control my breathing. Next thing I knew I heard robert yell, and then as I looked up, cale launched himself onto robert, hitting every part of him he could. Robert managed to get cale off, and he ran out of the room. Cale got up and ran straight over to me.

I looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. He smiled back then gently lifted me up in his arms and started walking out of the room. He asked where mom, elizabeth and the twins were, and I told him that mom had taken them to uncle Toby's for the night.

Toby was mom's brother. Remember the story about the princess rescuing her baby brother? Yeah, my uncle was that baby. Apart from mom and the twins, Toby is the only one that has any idea about robert hitting us. If we've had a particularly bad day, mom takes us round for the night. I opted out this time as I had too much homework to do and needed to get it done.

Back to me and cale. On the way up to my room, cale spotted a towel hanging on the banister. Not caring that it was moms favourite towel, he rolled it up, then placed it behind my head and against his chest then pulled me back so my head was resting on it. I sighed and closed my eyes. Despite the shock and pain, I was tired and wanted to sleep. Cale must have noticed this because as he came into my room, he pulled my covers back and put me down on the bed. He waited a while until the bleeding stopped then looked at my head.

Fortunately the cut wasn't that big, so cale took his shirt and trainers off, then climbed in next to me and pulled me against him, just like we did when we were kids. I sighed sadly and he looked at me.

"what's wrong?" he whispered.

I looked up at him and pulled him closer to me in a hug.

"it's just that we haven't really spoken to each other or been as close as this since we were about 13" I said.

He watched my face and suddenly he frowned.

"is that when robert started hitting you?"

I knew what cale meant. He meant 'did robert wait until we drifted apart before hitting you, because he knew I'd protect you?'

I nodded and began to cry softly. Cale tightened his grip and held me as I eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

'What a strange dream'. I thought to myself as I woke up. I dreamt that robert drove all of us over a bridge and only me and Connor survived. What was also strange was that I had my crystal on me and I called my dad as the paramedics turned up, and he came and took me away, where I was then safe.

I looked over at cale to see him cuddled up to my pillow, gently snoring. I pushed his hair off his forehead and gave him a kiss on the forehead, just to make sure he really was there and it wasn't all a dream. I then wrapped my arms round myself as I couldn't stop shaking. I glanced over to my mirror to see my dad looking at me with a concerned expression. I gave him a small glare and hissed 'thanks for being there, DAD!' He gave me a sad look and his face disappeared from the mirror, but I heard his words.

"I'm always here, even when you think I'm not"

I whispered an apology, before turning back to my bed, and curling up next to my twin and falling asleep once again. Needless to say, the dream didn't return, but I was still confused, what did that dream mean?


	3. The nightmare pt 2

_Hey, Kerryyuy here!_

_Sorry it's taken so long to update- i've had writers block, plus i've just moved house and temporarily misplaced my laptop. Anyway, i'm back and ready to write! Don't forget to check out my Gundam Wing Fic, A new life!!_

_Please R+R- all comments except flames are welcome_

Connor woke us up the next morning. Like a typical seven year old, he was full of energy and decided to do what most seven year olds would do- jump on the bed and shout your name until you wake up. Still feeling groggy from the cut to my head, I threw my pillow at him, causing him to topple off the bed. He jumped straight back up though so I just rolled my eyes, turned over and closed my eyes again, while Connor turned to Cale.

Cale groaned and slowly opened his eyes to see his brother jumping on him and giggling almost uncontrollably. He growled softly, and when connor turned to jump on me again, he grabbed him and began to tackle him. Connor started squealing, making me wince slightly with my head, but I began giggling when cale successfully turned connor upside down and continued tickling him.

I heard a noise coming from my mirror and looked to see Hoggle there watching us with an amused smile and a humoured twinkle in his eye. I quickly gave him a smile and he disappeared. I adore hoggle, always popping in to make sure I'm ok. A voice snapped me out of my daydream.

"connor, get off her and go to your room." Robert. I frowned.

Connor froze at the voice, then as quickly as his small legs allowed him, jumped off the bed and ran to his room.

"cale, get out."

Cale glared at Robert with as much venom as he could, but all cale did was smirk and incline his head motioning for him to leave. Cale took my hand and squeezed it, then steeped outside the room. Normally I would have been afraid, but knowing my brother was just outside the door gave me a sense of courage, but I was still afraid to look at my stepfather.

Robert looked at me, then before I could blink, he had me pinned down on my bed with one hand under my mouth, and another on my throat.

"your TWIN," he spat, "EVER tries that again, he's dead, understand?"

As much as I hated it, I felt my eyes water up and as a tear came free and fell down my cheek, I nodded. He let go of my throat and threw the door open.

Cale looked at my face and then glared at robert again/ robert patted Cale's cheek, which I know is a very bad thing to do. Cale grabbed Robert's arm and punched him in the side, managing to wind him. Instead of saying anything, robert just looked at me and I instantly paled at the look in his eyes. He was going to do something to Cale, I just knew it. I looked to cale, who just shrugged, then gave me a hug, silently reassuring me in his own way that everything would be ok.

Mom called us down for lunch about an hour later, waking me up. I didn't even feel myself fall asleep. I was still leaning on my brother, but instead of being on his chest like I had been, my head was now comfortably nestled in his lap. He was sitting back against the wall reading one of the books we would always share as kids and as he felt me stir, he grinned at me. I gave him a small grin back and stretched, being careful not to touch my head.

Lunch was actually enjoyable. Robert had gone out somewhere. Due to cale being home for a while, it was just like the old days with us all sitting there having a comfortable and cosy chat whilst munching on our sandwiches. The peace wasn't to last though. Just as we were finishing, robert stormed back in and grabbed cale, dragging him to the front door.

"robert! What the hell are you doing!?" mom yelled.

Robert slapped her round the face, then I suddenly noticed that he was holding a gun in his other hand. I grabbed my little sister and told Jake and connor to rake her up to her room. Jake nodded and started to walk up, but robert blocked connor from going.

"you too" was all he said, then looked at me to say me as well.

Mom got up at that point and turned to look at him. Robert watched her and while he was distracted, I slipped out of the room and raced up the stairs. I knew something bad was going to happen, so I grabbed the box out from under my bed and fished the crystal out of it, placing it in my pocket. Dad might be needed if things got too out of hand.

When I got back to the kitchen, mom had gone, connor was crying and Cale was being pressed against the wall, and was turning blue.

"where is she?" robert spat.

No need to guess who 'she' was. I ran over to them and grabbed Robert's arm, trying to make him let go of my twin. He did, making sure to hit me on the way for sneaking out of the room.

Robert left the room shortly after. The first thing I did was make sure that cale was breathing ok and was still alive. He gave me a small nod and I briefly hugged him. I heard a tiny whimper coming from under the table and looked to find connor sitting curled up in a ball and rocking himself.

I grabbed him and pulled him close to me, holding him and hushing him. Soon his tears stopped and I felt him relax against me. The shock had made him fall asleep. Now, I know I should have kept him awake but for what I heard next, I was grateful he didn't hear it. From upstairs, we could hear mom shouting at Robert, then she suddenly screamed. Next thing we heard was a gunshot and the sound of something being thrown down the stairs.

Me and cale looked at each other. I know I was white, but cale was almost grey, and I've never seen such a look of terror on his face before. Another gunshot rang out, followed by Jake crying and running into the kitchen, throwing himself on cale constantly crying "mom's in heaven, and Elizabeth is too." cale went green at this point and if robert hadn't of come out from the hallway and grabbed him, I think he would have feinted.

Robert told us all to get in the car. My blood turned cold. My dream! It was coming true! I felt my chest start to close up as a panic attack threatened to take half of me, but I calmed myself down and climbed into the back of the car, next to connor. Cale was in the from next to Robert and Jake for some reason had been shoved into the boot of the car. Robert threw the gun out of the window and smiled at us.

"I don't need this- I have a better plan for you brats"

I shuddered and felt connor push himself further into me. I wrapped my arms round him and when I looked up, I saw a look of pride in Cale's face. He knew I was trying to stay strong for connor. I gave him a calm smile, which I'm still not sure how I managed it, then looked out the window. Time froze at that point.

All thoughts of me staying calm for Connor's sake went out the window. We were gaining speed and heading towards a bridge that went over the extremely deep river below. All three of us screamed as robert threw himself out of the car. We crashed into the wall and the car went flying into the murky water below. The force of hitting the water caused my head to smash into the back of Cale's seat and I felt myself sink into a black pit.

The sound of connor screaming is what woke me up. The first thing I noticed was how dark it was, then I realised I couldn't breathe properly. Cale was trying to calm connor down.

"Cale, how're we going to get out of here?" I asked.

Cale looked at me, and just by the look of sorrow in his eyes, I nearly gave up the will to live. Blinking back tears, I tried to find a way out, then it hit me.

I noticed that the windscreen had a small crack in it from the force of hitting the water and a plan quickly formed in my head.

"Cale, I'm going to smash through the windscreen. As soon as I do, get connor onto the shore. I'm going to try and get Jake out of the boot before he drowns." I said in my no-nonsense voice.

Cale nodded at me and grabbed connor round the waist. I got myself into a position where I could break the glass, then with all the force I could muster, kicked the glass and shattered it.

Immediately, water came gushing in. cale did as I said and as soon as he took a breath, started swimming up to the surface. I too took a breathe and managed to get to the boot of the car. I desperately tried to open the boot but it was jammed. I banged on the metal and listened for jake to reply, but I knew by the fact there was no response that it was too late. Just as I felt my lungs were going to burst, I felt a pair of arms come round me and begin to pull me out of the water.

As soon as my head was above the water, I inhaled as much as as I could, then began to shake knowing that my other baby brother was still down there. I heard cale call me, he sounded scared. So he should. I looked up and saw the face of robert looking down at me. He gave me a cynical smile, then began to strangle me by wrapping his arm round my throat.

Suddenly cale was there prying him off me, with connor jumping on his back and biting his ear. With a roar of pain, robert let me go, and I grabbed connor so that we could move away from the madman. We moved over to the riverbank, and robert began to come towards us. I remembered my crystal and just as robert was about to grab cale, I screamed into the crystal.

"TAKE US TO MY FATHER **NOW**!!"

There was a blinding flash of light and I felt the three of us being pulled away from the world we knew so well. I felt something hard under my feet that wasn't the river bed. I opened my eyes to see connor and cale passed out on a stone floor. I heard footsteps approaching but did not have the strength to hold on to consciousness any longer.

As the footsteps reached me I feinted…falling straight into the arms of my pale faced and horror stricken father, Jareth.


	4. Awakening

_sorry it's taken a long time to update- serious writer's black! I'm back now though, so on with the story...._

"Mom…"

As soon as the word left my mouth, I heard the sound of someone going to the door and speaking in hushed tones, telling whoever it was on the other side to fetch the King. King? Oh, yeah…Dad. Wow, that meant I was a princess. It's amazing how I didn't notice that fact before. Hahaha.

I still haven't opened my eyes yet, too afraid that I'd wake and find that Robert had succeeded in killing us all and I was alone. Or worse, I'd never get to see my father again. Eventually though I knew I'd have to open my eyes, so taking a deep breath, I slowly peeked through one eye, and my eyes opened wide in amazement. I wasn't dead at all, I couldn't be, because I'm pretty sure there are no goblins in heaven. There were two standing guard by the door, and an elderly one standing at the end of the bed. The goblin looked at me and smiled.

"Hello Prinnicess, the King will be here shortly" he (I could tell from the voice) said.

I didn't answer him, didn't need to really. Instead, I glanced around the room, amazed at the beauty of it. It wasn't like one of those crummy hospital rooms; it was a proper bedchamber, with lavish furniture in a deep mahogany wood carefully laid around the room. The floor was a deep coloured wood, and the walls were all a rich red colour. It was magnificent. There were four doors too. One I knew was the door to the hallway, one was open so I could see the bathroom behind it, one was a closet (that door was open too) and the fourth, well I wasn't sure what that one was, but as I opened my mouth to ask, the door was opened and my father stepped out.

As soon as he saw me, the worry in his eyes dissolved into relief and both eyes began to fill with unshed tears. I gave him a small smile, trying to stop my own tears from falling. Trying but failing.

"Dad…" Ouch. That hurt.

He came over to me and helped me sit up, before pulling me into as tight a hug as possible without hurting me. I hugged him back, unable to hold my tears any longer. He just let me cry, holding me and rocking me back and forth as I let out my grief. When I finally calmed down, I wiped my eyes and looked at him with a smile on my face. I felt safe here. Me and the boys would be safe here, I just knew it.

The boys!

"Where are they?" I asked

Dad smiled again, and I was immediately reassured that they were ok, wherever they were.

"The two boys are fine. Connor woke up just a few hours after you arrived. He was the least injured out of you all, and he was just a bit shocked, but we introduced him to some goblin children and he's been with them since. He even lives with one of the families, under my supervision of course."

I let out a small breath of relief. Connor was fine, but what about Cale? Dad answered my unspoken question before I even had chance to ask.

"Cale took a couple of days to wake up. He had a few bad injuries, and had a problem breathing for a while. His throat swelled from where Robert tried to strangle him. He's fine now. The bruising has nearly gone and he has been allocated a room to stay in. I believe he is in there now, redecorating it to his liking. I told him to have a break as since he woke up he's hardly left your side."

Wait, since he woke up after two days? Then how long had I been out for? I asked dad, and his face lost all signs of a smile. His eyes hardened, but I could also see the sadness there.

"You were out for nine days. The actual injuries you sustained were not overly major, just a few cuts and bruises, and several lacerations on your left leg from kicking that glass in the car, but the worst one that nearly killed you was the knife wound in your stomach. Unfortunately, my healers tried as hard as they could, but the wound was so deep that they were unable to completely heal the skin, so there will be a scar there."

I nodded, thinking about the last few minutes before I transported us here. I don't remember being stabbed, but then again, the last few minutes were such a rush, and I was so scared, that I probably didn't even notice. I looked back at my dad, to see a single tear slide down his cheek and land on the duvet.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"Sarah. I'm so sorry, Rae, as soon as you arrived, I sent a small group of goblins to bring Sarah, your sister and other brother here. I had no idea… we found Sarah and your sister, but not your brother. Sarah and Elizabeth are here though; we were waiting for you to wake to give them a proper farewell service"

I think he was expecting me to cry again because I could see his arms beginning to open to pull me into a hug, but he was surprised when instead of crying, I sat back and smiled warmly.

"Thank you dad. You have no idea how much that means to me. By the way, please bring Jack here too. He's still trapped in the…the…boot…of the car, that is."

I faltered, had to swallow down the lump in my throat before I could continue. I could handle my mum and sister dying, but Jake died through one of the most horrible ways possible, and that was too hard to bear.

Dad must've noticed my falter, because he stood up and went into the closet, probably to give me some privacy. He came back a minute later with a pair of jeans and a top in his hand. More specifically, my jeans and top. From home.

"Ummm? How?" I asked

He smiled and put them on the bed.

"Well, I'm not going to make you wear the dresses worn here am I? Besides, I felt you would be more comfortable in your own attire, so I brought your clothes here, as well as the boy's clothes."

"Thank you. For everything"

"Could I be called a good dad if I didn't do this?"

I smiled at him.

We sat in a comfortable silence after that, but then I thought about something, and needed to ask him.

"What are we to do now? Oh my god! Uncle Toby!"

"Rae, clam down. Toby has been informed about the incident, and though he was heartbroken, he has asked me to take care of you children and raise you as my own, which in your case, I already would do once you turned 18."

I calmed down after that, but before I was able to respond, a goblin ran into the room stating that dad had to leave as he had a meeting with another king soon. Dad apologised to me, and once I had persuaded him that I was ok, he bid me farewell and left the room. The elderly goblin from earlier came back into the room, and I nodded to him.

"Hi, I'm Rae"

He opened his eyes wide in shock, almost unbelieving that I was actually speaking to him. I smiled again.

"That normally means you tell me your name'" I said gently, not wanting to scare him.

"My name is Kiney" he said.

"Hello Kiney. Do you think dad would mind if I got up for a bath and walk for a bit?"

"I should thinks that his Majesty would welcomes it as you need to gets stronger, prinnicess Rae"

"Urgh. No 'princess' please. Just call me Rae."

He grinned at me then, and quite happily directed me to the bathroom. Just as with the bedroom, the room was made up of a dark wooden floor, and mahogany furniture, with a golden coloured sink and toilet. A HUGE golden bath was in the centre of the room, and there was a large shower stall behind that. I looked in the mirror next to the bath and groaned at how bad I looked. I had a split lip, bruising all over my face, the cut on my head had gone, but the blood was till there. My hair was all knotted and messy and my eyes were dark and haunted looking. I REALLY needed that bath.

Kiney explained to me that to turn the taps on in these chambers, I needed to use magic, so he offered to take me to one with taps. I appreciated the offer, but before I could agree to it, I just looked over at the tap and imagined hot water coming out of it. Imagine my absolute shock when just that happened. The tap burst to life with hot water coming out of it. My mouth dropped open, and I tried the other tap, imagining cold water coming out of this one, and it did!

Kiney looked at me with the biggest grin I have ever seen on someone's face. He looked adorable at that point, and I let out a soft giggle at his cuteness. But why was he grinning like that? I asked him.

"It's because Rae, only a very, very small amounts of peoples can do that, and by smalls I means only the King and Queen are ables to."

"Well, I AM the princess, so maybe because dad doesn't have an official queen, the labyrinth has decided to make me its queen."

"Very well though Rae. In fact that is exactly what it is." A voice said in my head.

I jumped and spun around but saw no-one.

"Who are you?" I asked in my head.

The same voice replied.

"I am the source of magic in the labyrinth. I choose those who are worthy of magic, and you have got immense power in you, daughter of King Jareth and Sarah the champion of the Labyrinth."

"Cool" I whispered, not noticing the strange look Kiney gave me.

The voice disappeared and I felt a wave of magic flow through me. Kiney gasped and when I turned to look at him, I caught my reflection in the mirror.

"No friggin way!" I mumbled.

My hair was no longer tangled and messy. In fact, it was shiny, silky and straight. It was an even lighter shade of blonde than before; in fact it had a silver tint to it now! My eyes had changed too. They had gone from being a brownish colour, to now; they were an icy blue shade. Was this the magic again? Well, if it was, I would have preferred to keep my natural looks for now so I didn't worry the boys. As with the taps in the bathroom, when I thought this, my features went straight back to how the were before. I smiled at that and Kiney decided it was time for him to go so that I could bathe and dress in peace.

Once I came out of the bath, I pulled my hair up into a band that I found on the counter below the mirror. I looked in the mirror at my self. Now, all the blood was gone, and surprisingly, so had the bust lip and horrible bruising. I looked really carefully and let me features change to the paler hair and blue eyes. I stood and reverted the colours back and forth, and decided I definitely preferred the new me, but I needed to stick with the old looks for now, at least until I saw the boys.

Speaking of the boys, I needed to find them. As I no longer felt weary and achy, I felt now was the time to go and find them. I got dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of jeans and my favourite Nickelback top, one I designed myself. I then threw on a grey sweatshirt that was also on the bed. My dad seemed to know all my favourite clothes, which was kinda cool. I slipped on a pair of trainers at the end of the bed, and opened the door. Kiney smiled at me and I asked him if he knew where the boys were. I needed to see they were ok…


	5. Reunited

Why was I worried about the boys again? I stood in the doorway of Cale's room, watching as he stood on a chair by the window, his back to me. He couldn't hear me as well as see me. I could see his head bobbing up and down energetically and had to suppress the laugh that was threatening to burst out of my chest. Eventually, though my fun had to end. Cale must've sensed someone was watching him as he suddenly froze and turned his head slightly, probably hoping that he was just being paranoid and no-one was behind him. As if!

His mouth dropped open so wide, I'm surprised it didn't completely fall off, and he tried to jump off the chair as quickly as possible, but as this WAS Cale, he caught his foot and ended up in a heap on the floor instead, pulling the curtain he had been holding down with him. That was it. I couldn't hold it back any longer.

With a yell, I let the laughter and sorrow out, and launched myself at my twin, not caring that he was on the floor, trapped in a curtain. I was just so happy to see him. I threw my arms round him, hugging him as tightly as possible. He did the same to me and I know that even though he would try to hide it, he too was crying. We sat like that for what felt like ages, before I heard the sound of a Childs footsteps running towards the room. As I heard them, they stopped.

"It was true?" I heard from behind me.

I didn't even need to turn around. All I did was kept one arm round Cale and extended my other arm behind me to pull my little brother to me and the three of us just sat there holding each other, no talking, just thanking whoever could be thanked that we were alive and TOGETHER. We would get through this. We would be ok. I just knew it.

Finally, I sat back, gently pulling Connor up with me, and between us, we managed to untangle Cale. By the time he was freed, connor was rolling on the floor with laughter, and I wasn't far off joining him myself. Even Cale was struggling to hold it in. somehow the mixture of him falling and me and connor hugging him had tangled him up so far in the curtain that it was nearly impossible to detangle him. I glanced over to the door as I sensed somebody there, and even though it was hard to do as cale was mumbling about the curtain, I managed to calm down enough to greet my dad.

At that moment dad must've been wondering what he'd let himself in for. I'm not sure how long he'd been watching us for, but he was bound to have seen the state we got ourselves into. He smiled down at us, amusement shining brightly in his mismatched eyes.

"if you three are hungry, Lunch will be ready in around ten minutes. Alternatively, I could arrange to have it brought up here."

I screwed my nose up at this. Yes, the place was absolutely beautiful, but I needed air.

"actually, could we eat in the garden please? I need some air and sunshine." I asked.

Dad gave me a warm smile, before telling us that as long as we were careful, we had his full permission to eat outside. Me and cale high-fived each other, before I challenged him to a race.

Cale shrugged and laughed, and I looked at him, confused. What was suddenly so funny?

"do you know how to get out?" he asked.

Oops. Didn't think about that very well, did I?

"ok, new plan, we get outside and when we come in we race up here."

"I don't think so," Dad interrupted "just for the first couple of days, I want you to promise me you'll try to take it easy."

I looked at him trying hard to keep the frown off my face. I knew I was fine, from the magic that I had felt earlier, but to tell my dad this meant telling him about my change and I wanted to wait for the right moment to tell everyone. This was not it.

Instead I gave him a reassuring hug, and promised him I would be as careful as possible. I felt him relax quite a lot as I said that and I was glad that I had said the right thing to him. When I pulled away, connor tugged on my jumper and asked if we could go now. I looked at my dad and he nodded his consent. I nearly picked connor up, but remembering what I had said to my dad just seconds before stopped me, so cale picked him up instead, and we disappeared off outside, leaving my dad in the bedroom.

As we walked down the seemingly never-ending corridors, I took pleasure in watching as the goblins we came across scampered about doing their assorted jobs. Unfortunately, if any saw us, they would immediately stop and bow, something I found embarrassing. Each time a goblin bowed, I kindly asked them to not do it as I wasn't used to it. Most of them were ok with this, but there were a few that refused to listen, so I just walked past them, ignoring them. Each time I did this, whether it be to ask them not to bow, or ignore them, cale would either raise his eyebrow or grin. After the seventh time, I had to ask him.

"Cale, why do you keep doing that?"

"it just seems as though even though you've never acted like a princess in your life, you've stepped up into the role without even needing to change yourself. The way you speak to the goblins is you, but there's also a level of authority present in your voice. It's just amazing."

"shut up" I said, and lightly punched him in the arm.

He grabbed his arm and pretended to moan in pain, so I did the first thing that came into my head- I punched him properly. This time his face DID screw in pain and he stopped to rub it. I just laughed and carried on down into the room I saw in front of me, connor next to me, giggling.

He caught up with us soon enough. As I stepped into what could only be the entrance hall, I froze, my mouth hanging open. Never in my life had I seen anything as beautiful, yet grand. The walls and were stone, but they were a soft grey, almost silver in colour. The floor was a soft cream colour, and all the extras such as curtains, the rug stretched across the floor and the chandelier hanging over us, were a bright golden colour. Cale softly nudged me, and we moved over as a goblin came through carrying a pile of cloth with them. I looked over to my brothers, neither seemed to be phased by the grandness of it all, but then I remembered, they had already been here and had probably been through here a few times by now.

I was quite prepared to just sit here in the hall and eat lunch, but when I voiced it, cale burst out laughing and threw an arm around me.

"Not a chance. We're getting you outside." he picked my arm up and studied my skin. "you're too pale. You need sunlight my dear."

I chuckled and he led me outside. I gasped. It wasn't as beautiful as the entrance, but not far off. A large fountain stood not far away from the entrance of the castle. A pure white fountain with an angel standing in the middle, arms open and inviting. The fountain itself was so big I could probably stand in it and the water level would be at my waist. The gardens surrounding us were full of flowers of different kinds and the grass was almost picturesque. We all decided that as it was quite warm out, it would be nice to sit by the fountain.

"Rae? Maybe after we've had food, can I play in the water?" connor asked me.

"I'm not sure if it's allowed little man. I'll find someone to ask though."

A voice came from behind us, causing us to all yell and jump. We turned to see my dad standing by the edge of the entrance doorway, holding a tray of food. A goblin was standing next to him, also holding a tray of food.

"in answer to your question, connor, it would be perfectly ok for you to do so. Now, I hope you all don't mind me joining you?"

None of us had a problem with that, so he came and sat with us. After eating some of the best food I have ever eaten in my life, we moved onto the grass next to the fountain, Cale lying down and staring at the sky, me watching Connor play in the fountain with a smile on my face, and dad standing up, leaning against a tree, watching over us.

I suddenly felt my eyes become blurry and tried to brush away the tears collecting there before anyone noticed. Three people were missing to make this a truly happy scene. It was still just nine days since it happened, and looking at the boys now, I could see that even though they appeared carefree and happy, they too, like me, were going to struggle to move on. But we were all strong. We could do this, we WOULD do this.


	6. Reading

It's been a week since I woke up, and so far it hasn't been so bad. I was expecting to be forced to take lessons to keep up with my education, not to mention being taught about how to be a proper princess, but nothing. When I asked dad, he just laughed and explained to me that though I would have to continue my education, it would be in my own time, and that being a princess would come naturally to me and it was completely up to me when and how I learnt. If I even wanted to. I thought at the time how cool that was, not being forced into anything. The boys were the same, they got to choose when they worked, although certainly with Connor, a little bit of pushing here and there was needed or else no work would ever get done.

At the minute I was sitting on my bed flipping through one of my geography text books, looking for something, ANYTHING that was remotely interesting. I love geography but there are days where I really was not in the mood for it. Today was one of those days. With a frustrated sigh, I slammed the book shut and dropped it onto the cabinet next to my bed. One thing I learnt very quickly here is that there wasn't much in the entertainment department. I couldn't go and play any sport or practise my dancing as I was still healing. I wanted to redecorate my room too, but again, I wasn't ready, and as I didn't want anyone finding out about my magic, I had to do it by hand. I had decided that my room was going to be pale blue and silver, my two favourite colours. Once it had been decided that I was recovered enough, I was able to choose my own room. I chose one near the top of one of the towers. It was a lot smaller than the room I had previously been in, but still big enough for me to run around if I wanted to. Plus it had a room attached to it that was now my training room/dance studio.

Normally I would hunt down the boys to spend some time with them, but Cale was back home spending a couple of days with uncle Toby, and connor was at a sleep over with one of the goblin children. I had opted to stay behind because me and uncle toby never really spoke, and apart from him, there was nothing left for me in the aboveground.

I was still bored though, so I left my room and walked down to find my dad. The first place I looked was in his study. Well, I call it the library, as it was filled with miles and miles of bookshelves, filled to the top with books. An enormous desk sat in the middle of the room, the occupier facing the door. Bingo! If ever in need of the goblin king, always look in his study first. Dad looked up at me and smiled.

"let me guess, you're bored and want something to do?" he asked.

I nodded.

"well, its more a case of I want something to read, but none of my books are appealing at the minute and I thought I'd ask permission to read one of the books in here."

"my dear, you are the princess of this kingdom. You don't need permission to read a book." my dad said, and I saw the twinkle of humour in his eyes.

Ii rolled my eyes in response to him and playfully stuck my tongue out, causing him to chuckle before turning his focus back on the stack of papers in front of him. I didn't ask him what they were as I knew that I wouldn't understand, so instead I took the pleasure in running my hand along the books on the shelf nearest to me, looking for a title I was interested in.

I must have looked for a good ten minutes and found nothing. Just as I was about to give up my search, I caught a glimpse of something blue. A small yet thick volume sat in the middle of a group of brown books. I pulled it out of the shelf and had to stifle my small gasp. The cover was a metallic sapphire blue, and the title of the book was written in large, curved silver lettering.

"the rulers and kingdoms of the underground" I read out loud.

I heard dad drop something onto his desk and looked over at him. He stood up and asked if he could look at it. I nodded and gave him the book. He quickly skimmed through it and his eyes softened as he reached a certain page. I took the book back and looked. It was a picture of two of the most beautiful people I had ever seen in my life. The man was tall and powerful looking, with icy blue eyes and soft blonde hair, the woman with almost white hair and brown eyes. Without being told, I knew who they were. My grandparents. Dad had gone back to his desk and I could see that he was watching my reaction.

"wow. They're beautiful." I managed to say.

Dad nodded, his elbows on the desk, hands linked and chin propped on them. His gaze was starting to make me a little bit uncomfortable, so I turned my eyes back to the picture.

"You look just like her you know."

I snapped my head back up to him and shook it.

"No way. You're telling me that I look like her? She's the picture of beauty and perfection!"

"As will you be one day, when you become queen of the goblins"

Now that, I believed. About me being queen, but the thought of me becoming as beautiful as the woman in the picture? Never going to happen. When I saw my transformation in the mirror the other day I noticed that I took on a more refined and dignified attractiveness, but not beauty. Dad must've known what I was thinking, well about me never being beautiful anyway, as he chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"you may not believe me now, my little one, but I promise, one day, you will see what I have told you. Now, take the book and go and read it. It's a lovely day, why don't you go and sit by the fountain? Your skin is beginning to retain it's golden colour"

He was right. In the few days I had been unconscious, my skin had lost all its colour and was a ghostly white, but in the last few days I had been spending as much time as possible out in the warmth of the sun, and just as dad had said, my skin had begun to turn a soft bronze colour. Something that had always envied cal. He would burn and then go back to being white, yet me, the blonde hair blue eyed girl, would either burn a bit and go brown, or would just go straight to brown, like I have now. By the time he got back in a couple of days I would probably be back to my old self.

As I walked towards the main entrance, I felt my jeans were too heavy, so I quickly turned and headed back to my room to throw a pair of shorts on. I looked in my full body mirror, pleased with my looks. One thing I had always been proud of is the fact that my body was in top physical condition and evenly toned all over. I noticed a flash of blue, again from the corner of my eye, and turned to it in confusion. Even though blue was my favourite colour, I didn't posses many blue clothes, and especially not blue clothes in that shade.

I pulled out the garment and gasped. It was a dress, but, WHAT a dress. It was the same shade of blue as the book I had chosen from the library, just a bit more toned down. It had a silver thread running through it, creating the effect of a shimmering sky. There was a small rope chain around the waist, and travelling down the skirt, and a thin sash coming across the bodice. These were both silver, and complemented it perfectly. All in all it was probably the most beautiful dress I had ever seen. But why did I have it?

As if he had heard my question, Kiney popped into my room and smiled widely as he saw I was holding the dress.

"Ah, you've found it. Your father told the tailors your favourite colours and they made it for you. There is a ball in one of the neighbouring kingdoms in five weeks, as the prince is turning twenty one and steps into his adult transformation. This has been made for you as jeans are not permitted."

Great. A ball. Hang on, adult transformation? What was that? I asked kiney.

"well, when any Fae turns twenty one, they are classed as an adult, and they go through a transformation, where their hair and eyes take on the colourings of the adult Fae. In your father's case, his hair wet a shade darker and his eyes became mismatched. Before that his hair was a creamy white and his eyes were brown."

I nodded in understanding. Wait, if this transformation didn't happen until the age of twenty one, which was still three years away for me, then what happened to me the other day? I needed to speak to my dad about this, but not today, maybe tomorrow when there was more time.

I froze then. Tomorrow, tomorrow was the funeral for mum, Jake and Elizabeth.


	7. The Funeral

_This chapter is really long, and I was hoping that it would be really emotional, but I'll let you be the judge. The day has come- the funeral. Rae also has a surprise visitor too._

I woke up this morning with the dreaded feeling in my stomach. I opened my eyes unwillingly, just wanting to keep them shut and sleep the day away, not having to say goodbye to three of the most special people in my life. Even though I hadn't even gotten out of bed yet, I could feel the atmosphere was sullen in the whole castle. I was expecting it to be raining outside however, when I eventually forced myself out of bed and opened the curtain, glorious sunshine flooded the room. I found that I had to smile at that. At least it was a bright day, that would life my mood a little.

"you have no idea how much I wish I could see you mom" I whispered.

I felt something from behind me, and I assumed it was my dad, so I just called over my shoulder without looking, to tell him that I was going to get myself ready in a few minutes, but the reply I received was not what I expected.

"Leanne"

Too shocked to argue that my name was Rae, I spun round to see my mom standing by my bed, looking at me with the smile on her face that was always there before she met Robert. I fought to keep the tears back, to stay strong, but she tilted her head, her smile becoming more soft and comforting.

"honey, don't do that. Don't be afraid to show your feelings."

At that, I couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears started to fall and even though I tried wiping them away as they arrived, I didn't try to stop them. I felt a hand caress the side of my face and I leant my head into it, smelling the faint smell of perfume that she always wore, a soft gentle one that faintly smelt of cinnamon. I sighed gently as I felt the tears subside and the feeling of her hand went as she moved it away from my face.

Mom, still smiling, moved towards the bed and sat on it, motioning for me to do the same, so I sat next to her. As it was only her spirit, she was unable to hug me, but the feeling of her presence was enough. Yes, me and her had done a lot of arguing recently and had drifted apart over the years, but I was still her firstborn and we still had a bond that only a mother and daughter can have. Just as I felt as though I was completely whole again, mom suddenly turned her serious face on and made me look at her and listen to what she had to say to me. Her soft brown eyes gazed into mine and I felt myself want to cry again at the familiarity.

"baby, I want you to listen to me. You are my beautiful, talented, headstrong and fiery daughter. I love you so much and I am so proud of you. I know I was against you doing martial arts but I was wrong to push you into acting. It's just I thought you had so much potential to waste your life doing martial arts, and I am sorry for that. I want you to know that no matter what, I will always be there for you, and the magic that is a part of you know, I think that is going to be your greatest power one day."

By this point, the tears were freely falling, and I smiled at her, a mixture of sorrow and happiness, a strange combo, yet a very powerful one too. For the first time for years I felt as though I was truly loved by my mom and to hear that she was proud of me made me the happiest person at that moment. I could tell that she hadn't yet finished so I let her continue.

"tell your brothers how much I love them and I'm proud of them too. Tell Caleb to stick with his sport and try to get Connor into dance lessons, I think he'll surprise you. As for you, I want you to transfer all the skill you've learnt from martial arts into the magic you've inherited. And speaking of magic, can I see the new you please as a last request?"

It took me a second to realise what mom meant by showing her the new me, but then I remembered. It took me a couple of attempts as I was still getting used to the whole using magic thing, but eventually my hair went the soft golden colour, and my eyes turned icy blue. Mom gave me a teary smile and her spirit's hands cupped my face again.

"there's my beautiful girl" she whispered.

I wanted to cry, this time with happiness, but I found there were no tears, so I settled for giving her a smile back and showing her that I could be strong. I told her this and she gave a soft laugh.

"Lea…no. Rae. You have strength I couldn't even imagine, and you are strong. But promise me that you will allow your feelings to show today. If you want to cry, then cry. Your brothers are worried that you haven't shown any emotion so far, and even your father is worried. Speaking of your father, tell him I never stopped loving him, and that I am going to kill him when I next see him for putting that spell on me but I don't regret a second of having you. Rae, you are special. Never forget that."

Rae. She called me Rae. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After ten years of trying to get her to acknowledge that name, she had finally accepted it. I was about to thank her when she looked towards the door and then back at me. She gave me a sad smile and I knew it was time. No words needed to be said as she gave me a kiss to the forehead that I just felt, and she whispered one last 'I love you', before disappearing. I wanted to be able to cry so badly, but I think because I was able to say goodbye, I was slightly more at peace.

I turned to go and get changed when my door knocked and my dad entered, wearing a royal blue outfit with a black shirt underneath. He gave me a small smile, which I returned.

"I'll be there in a minute, let me just get dressed."

Without saying anything, he nodded and left the room again. I think I was a bit blunt then as I realised that he was hurting just as much as any of us. In fact, I think he's probably hurting more than we are as mom was the only woman he has ever loved, and he never had that chance to be with her before she died. I moved over to my bed and picked up my outfit. As I didn't have much time left, I quickly dressed and brushed my hair before looking in the mirror. I was wearing an emerald green shirt with a pair of black jeans and my favourite black boots. I left my hair down and it flowed in soft waves down to the base of my shoulders. I know its custom to wear black at funerals, but I wasn't going to be in all black as I wanted the kids to have happy colours there.

As I stepped out of my room, I was greeted by Connor. He was silent and kept his head pointed to the ground as he reached a hand up for me to take. He was wearing his favourite red top and a pair of blue trousers. I knew he was wearing it as both he and Jake lived in their matching outfit, and jake was going to be buried in his, so Connor had decided to wear the matching outfit. Suddenly overcome with a lump in my throat at seeing my little brother so downhearted, I crouched down and pulled him into a hug, crushing him next to. He didn't complain, he just turned his head into the nook of my neck and sobbed his little heart out. Connor was suddenly taken out of my arms and when I looked up, Cale was holding him, his own tears joining our brother's. I still found I was unable to cry again, so I just stood up and put an arm round cale, who pulled me in for a bone crushing hug. I didn't say anything as I knew he needed this. They both did.

We eventually made our way down to the garden where the three were being buried, and I gasped at the sight. There were a row of blossom trees, and the blossoms were in full bloom, leaving a carpet of blossom leaves covering the ground. Three open graves were in front of the trees, with pure white coffins ranging from full sized down to a small coffin that barely reached my thigh if it was standing straight, lying on top of them, ready to be lowered. I swallowed the lump down that had once again formed in my throat and moved to stand in between Elizabeth and jake. Connor was standing next to jake and dad was standing next to mom with cale. Cale looked ready to collapse as dad asked if any of us wanted to say anything. I think I surprised everyone when I said that I wanted to speak, and I felt a little bit saddened by the fact that they thought I was going to just stand and say or do nothing, but then I remembered what mom said to me about how worried they'd been over me not showing any emotion, and the feeling of sadness lessened a bit. Instead of talking about them individually, I chose to tell everyone what mom had told me, and though they were all shocked I had seen her (well, everyone except cale was shocked), they all accepted what she had said, and we all even laughed when I told dad her message for him.

Then it came, the time to lower the coffins. We all placed a rose on each grave, my roses white, Cale's blue, Connor's yellow, and dad's red, then the coffins slowly began to lower. I bit my lip as the tears finally came back. It wasn't until I looked at mom's that it really hit. I had only just spoken to her, yet here she was being lowered into the ground. I heard a strange noise that sounded like an animal in pain, before I crumpled to the floor, sobs racking through me. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to control the severe shaking, yet sobbing even harder. I felt a pair of arms wrap round me and I was pulled into Cale's arms. I threw myself onto him and he pulled me close, his tears joining mine. Connor also wanted to join in, but I think dad realised that this was a moment for us twins this time, and so he offered Connor the comfort, which connor gladly accepted. Eventually, I found myself weakening, but before I could say anything, my head began to spin and I found the world around me fade to black.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in my room, with dad and cale standing together by the window. It looked like dad had only just come in as I heard him say that connor had finally fallen asleep. He then glanced over at me but didn't realise I was awake as he spoke to cale.

"she finally broke. It was only a matter of time."

"if it wasn't for mom, I don't think she would have. I thank mom for that."

"well, I think you need to get some sleep too. Stay here with your sister tonight. I will leave you two alone."

Cale turned down the offer, which I understood. He needed to be alone for a while. Dad opened the door for him, and before he left himself, he turned to look at me once more.

"oh, Sarah. I love you so much, and I will always cherish our daughter" I heard him whisper.

The last thing I heard before falling asleep again was dad letting out a single sob, but he was gone before I could call to him, and I couldn't ignore the sleep taking over any longer.


	8. Revealing My New Look

It had been a month since the funeral, and I had found that even though I missed them all terribly, adapting to my new life was easy. Connor also found adapting easy, as he had already made many new friends. Cale was struggling though. He just couldn't come to terms with what had happened, and I was worried. Luckily though, he had admitted to me that he was just having adjustment issues, and within a week, he had finally made a couple of new friends and was now slowly beginning to come round to the change.

Dad has been teaching me some magic, eager for me to learn as much as possible, especially as I had really quickly picked up on it. I enjoyed it, and the feeling that flowed through me every time I said a spell exhilarated me. It's hard to describe, but think about the happiest moment in your life alongside the most excited time, and imagine it just bubbling in your stomach before exploding out. That's the closest I can describe it. Dad says that everyone feels different when they use magic, for example, when he uses it, he feels a sense of raw power. He also said that my grandmother, his mother, always cried when she used magic as for some reason it saddened her.

I hadn't told dad yet about my transformation. I had decided to wait until the ball tonight to tell him, but even then, I had opted for the element of surprise, and I would just let my appearance change in front of him. I suddenly realised dad was trying to get my attention and snapped out of my daydream to look at him.

"well, it's nice to see there is life there after all" he joked.

"very funny. What's up?"

"are you ready for the ball?"

"yes. I know exactly what to do, say and how to behave. Plus I can dance so there will be no worries there."

"very good. Well, today's lesson is now finished, so you can go and prepare for tonight."

I stood up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before moving upstairs to my room.

As soon as I was in my room, I used my new found magic to lock the door. I glanced over to the mirror and allowed the barrier to break, showing my new looks. My long silvery hair flowed gracefully down my back and my eyes shone ice blue. I had a long bath, allowing myself to completely relax and unwind before tonight. Once my bath water had begun to cool down, I stepped out and wrapped a robe around myself to gradually dry off. I used magic to dry my hair before brushing it. I hummed along to the stereo playing quietly in the background, only stopping to put my dress on. I left my hair down to let it hang down my back. I turned to face the mirror and smiled widely. I was beginning to see what dad had said about how one day I would be as beautiful as the woman in the picture I saw. I had a way to go, but as each day went past and my magic grew stronger, my looks also grew.

A knock came from the other side of my door, and I called out that I would meet everyone downstairs in a few minutes and I was to be called again when everyone was at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall. A few minutes later, there was another knock on the door, and I opened it to see Kiney peer at me, his eyes open wide as I stepped out.

"wow" he squeaked.

Well, that was a good reaction. He walked with me until we reached the top of the staircase, where he left me to face my family alone. I took a steadying breath before beginning my descent down the stairs. Silence is what greeted me, and when I looked at everyone, they were all staring at me with their mouths wide open in shock, even my dad. I smiled down at them all, and they still stood there, too shocked to even move. It wasn't until I reached them that they finally responded.

"my god. You're beautiful!" Cale exclaimed.

I laughed at that. Trust Cale to come out with something so blunt yet funny at the same time. Dad also smiled, but I could tell something was bothering him.

"how is this even possible? Your change shouldn't occur for another three years yet!"

"I know dad. I don't get it myself, but something from the maze told me that I was powerful so changed quicker."

Dad paused for a minute, rubbing his chin in thought.

"well, if the labyrinth thinks you are powerful enough to go through the change already, then I look forward to see your power when you DO reach 21."

I was relieved at that. I don't know why but for some reason, I had been expecting him to chastise me or something for showing him now, but he had a completely supportive attitude towards it. He did have one thing to say, however.

"my advice to you would be to stay your old way for now, and only when you are in the castle show your new look. Only because I don't want anyone trying to take advantage of you."

Ok. I could accept that. Once I changed back to my usual self, I linked arms with Cale and we set off to the castle where this ball was being held.


	9. The Ball

As we moved to the middle of the hall, I noticed a slight air of tension coming from my dad. Strange. I asked him what was wrong and he sent me a reassuring smile.

"It's nothing. There isn't a lot of love lost between me and King Midera. We've never exactly been on best terms with each other, a personality clash really."

"oh. I understand that."

I did. I had personality clashes with a lot of people back in the aboveground. But I was here now, with my family, and I was slowly beginning to make new friends.

Once we were all holding hands, dad used his magic to transport us to the castle. As we arrived, I looked up and gasper. It wasn't much bigger than the Goblin castle, but from the outside it looked much grander, almost like something out of a fairytale, with pure white walls, and golden windows. I whistled at the sight, and Cal nudged me with a grin on his face. I stuck my tongue out at him before linking arms with him as we walked into the entrance hall.

As soon as we entered the ballroom, a large man and a very tall, slim woman came over to us. The man clapped dad hard on the back and I saw dad send him a small glare.

"Jareth! How are you, my friend?"

"I am well…"

He was cut off as the man caught site of me and my brothers. Cal still had his arm looped with mine, and Connor was hiding as best as he could behind our legs.

"and who are these absolutely charming children?"

Cal bristled next to me, and I put a soothing hand on his arm, smiling softly at him when he began to calm himself down. The man noticed this as he chose to speak to me first.

"So, you must be a relative of old Jareth here?"

I looked over to my dad, who gave me an encouraging nod. He had told me that unless he stated otherwise, I was to introduce myself on my own without his help. He wasn't being horrible, it was just to get me used to this life.

I took a second to calm my nerves, before standing up straight and holding myself the way I should, as a princess not a common girl.

"yes sir, I am the king's daughter. My name is Leanne, but if you wouldn't mind, I prefer to be acknowledged as Rae."

"Rae? What an unusual name. Very well your highness. I will call you Rae."

"thank you…?"

"oh my! How rude of me! I am king Midera"

As soon as he said that, my eyes widened and I immediately curtseyed, albeit a little clumsily. I scowled at my feet as I stumbled and I heard a chuckle from behind me.

"not very graceful are you, _princess_?"

I turned to glare at the rude comment, but it faded as I saw the owner of the voice. It was a young man, a bit older than me, but still young. He was very tall, almost as tall as my dad, with shoulder length deep brown hair, that had a very light shine to it. His eyes were pure yellow, like the colour of amber, and I couldn't help but feel drawn to them. He gave me an arrogant smirk, and I suddenly remembered what he had just said about me.

"I'm sorry, but who do you think you are? How dare you insult me! You don't even know me!" I said.

Whoever he was, I don't think he was used to people having a go at him. His smirk dropped and his eyes darkened as they narrowed.

"look here, you…"

He was cut off by king Midera, as the king draped an arm round the guys shoulders.

"now, now, Tiernan. Play nicely. Princess Rae, this is one of my son's who is celebrating his eighteenth birthday today."

I reluctantly curtseyed out of politeness, sighing in relief as I didn't stumble that time. Tiernan returned with a bow, but only because it would have been rude not to.

I looked back at my dad who was now talking to the woman that had walked over with king Midera. He glanced over to me and put his arm out for me to go to him. I said goodbye to Midera and Tiernan before moving over to him. He gave me a hug before introducing me to the woman.

"Rae, this is Midera's wife and mother of the twins prince Tiernan and prince Cain. This is queen Tatina."

"hello" I said.

She gave me a warm smile and gave me a small hug.

"good evening, Rae"

"good evening. Did dad say prince Cain?"

"yes he did" a new voice answered.

I turned round to see who had just entered the conversation. Immediately, I could see that he was Tiernan's twin; the same height, build and hair colour, the only difference in them was that Cain's hair was much shorted and his facial features were much softer. Also, his eyes were blue, not amber. He smiled at me and my stomach fluttered. He took hold of my hand and kissed the back of it.

"would you please accompany me to the dance floor?" he asked.

I looked back at Cale and Connor, Connor who was talking to king Midera, Cale who was talking to prince Tiernan. I looked back at Cain and smiled.

"I would be delighted"

We moved over to the dance floor and he wrapped an arm round my waist as we began to move with the music. I had barely known him five minutes, yet I felt extremely attracted to him, especially when he smiled down at me. I smiled back shyly, and a piece of my hair fell across my face, and he brushed it back behind my ear causing me to blush. I suddenly felt myself lurch forwards, and I ended up pressed up against Cain's chest. He grasped both my shoulders and helped me regain my balance. As soon as I had, I turned to glare at whoever had pushed me, at the same time trying to hide the deep blush that was on my face from Cain. I came face to chest with Tiernan. Why was I actually not surprised about that?

Before I could open my mouth to have a go at him, he took hold of my hands and asked his brother if he could have this next dance. Cain said yes and before I even had time to protest, I was being swept away. Tiernan kept a firm grasp on me, and as I tried moving away, he smiled.

"ah, ah! Come on, I'm sure one dance won't kill you."

I glared openly at him, ignoring the warning look my dad sent me, and Tiernan's smile only grew. He spun me out and as he pulled me back in, I came to rest with my back pressed up against his body, his arm round me. He looked down at me, and as I looked up, I suddenly had the urge to kiss him. Hey, what can I say, I have a thing for guys with long hair and hot eyes. His head moved closer to mine, and I felt myself starting to lean up, but just as I nearly kissed him, I suddenly yelped and pushed him off me. He looked at me with confusion, but his smile showed his arrogance once again.

"I hate you!" I hissed.

I moved back to the edge of the dance floor where I caught sight of Connor playing with a couple of fae children. He gave me a big grin and waved as he ran over to me. I bent down and scooped him up, twirling round with thin in my arms, giggling and smiling. I also smiled and kissed him on the top of the head before setting him down again.

The rest of the night moved slowly, without me having any more meetings with Tiernan. Cain though, I kept bumping into, even joking on one occasion that he was stalking me. He just smiled and invited me to another dance, which I gladly accepted. When the dance finished, I moved back over to my dad, and I think he was pleased with the outcome of the evening, although he wasn't too happy about the fact that I had more than one slip up when talking to Tiernan.

That night when I curled up in bed, I was reflecting everything that had happened that night, including the near-kiss with Tiernan. With a frustrated groan, I shook my head to clear him from it, and focused my time on thinking about Cain. As I drifted to sleep, I had various dreams that involved me dancing and kissing a Cain. The only problem was that the Cain in my dream had golden-amber eyes…


	10. Visitors and Compliments

I woke up the following morning and squeezed my eyes shut with a small yelp as the sunlight filtering through attacked my eyes. I quickly covered them with my arm before slowly reopening them to allow them to adjust. Typical, I forgot to close my curtains last night. As I sat up and stretched, my stomach growled and as I looked at the time, I saw it was nearly 9am, meaning I hadn't actually eaten for nearly ten hours. Deciding that food was more important than anything else, I smoothed my hair down as best I could before heading down to the dining room. Thankfully, it was quite warm today and even though I had decided to wear a pair of grey and blue striped shorts with a pale blue sports vest, I wouldn't freeze.

I managed to get to the dining room in record time, and without actually getting lost for once. Even though I had lived here for about a month now, it was still easy to get lost. I slid into the room and saw my dad sitting at one end. I stepped over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, not noticing someone walk into the room from behind me until they spoke.

"wow, for someone so clumsy, you sure have a nice pair of legs."

I froze and stood up straight, flushing with anger, but also blushing with embarrassment as I found myself in front of both Tiernan and Cain. I bent down to whisper in dad's ear.

"why are they here, dad?"

"didn't I tell you? They will be staying for a couple of months on vacation"

"what! Oh man. Oh my god, I'm standing in my nightwear!"

I think I whispered a bit too loud as I heard Tiernan start laughing at that point. I sent him a glare but before I could say anything, Cal came in.

"hey Tiernan!"

"hey cal!"

Cal then looked to Cain and gave him a curt nod, which Cain returned. For some reason those two seemed to have had a personality clash. Cal then looked at me and his smile widened.

"did you realise you were in your nightwear still?"

Tiernan started laughing again at that.

"no cal, I honestly hadn't noticed. Gee thanks for telling me. Really appreciate it."

I quickly moved out of the room at that point, blushing again as I caught Cain's amused expression. I virtually ran up to my room before hastily getting dressed, pulling on a pair of skinny jeans with a pale blue checked shirt and a pair of western style boots. I finished off by letting my hair loose, and wearing a couple of my amethyst stone bracelets. I moved back downstairs and punched cal for bringing up my attire as I walked past him and Tiernan. Then, I headed down to the stables. I moved into the main building where the stables were found, and saw a couple of goblins bustling about, both of which gave me smiles as I moved up to them.

"hey guys. Can I help?"

"of course, we haven't done shadow, jet and flame yet"

"leave them to me, you two go and have the rest of the day off"

"thank you your highness"

I waited until the pair of them had disappeared before grabbing a saddle and a bridle and heading out to the paddock to see my favourite horse of them all, jet. Jet was actually pure white, which is why I chose the name, as most people would expect a black horse. Dad had given her to me as a gift for living with him, and I adored her. I called her over and she happily trotted over to me, nudging my hair with her soft nose. I stroked her muzzle before tacking her up, and jumping on her. I didn't do much with her, just did some walking, then some light trotting and cantering. I could feel that she wanted to do more though so I dismounted and moved her over to the main field that was easily three maybe four acres big. I remounted her and sent her into a gallop, throwing my head back and laughing out loud as she did. I then did something I hadn't done since I was a child. I moved so that I was kneeling on her back, then threw both my arms out wide as she continued to move. I felt like I was flying at that moment. I was never happier than when I was on a horse. I lowered myself back down into the saddle before slowing her down until she was at a steady trot before finally getting her to a walk. I dismounted her to move her to her stable, and as I reached the gate, I saw Tiernan leaning against it without my brother, watching me. I didn't have the heart to glare so I smiled, and I think I surprised him. He opened the gate for me and I thanked him before taking jet over to her stall.

As I shut her door behind me, she nibbled gently at my hair, causing me to squeal as she tickled the back of my neck before I turned and buried myself into her neck, inhaling the sweet smell of hers that she always had. She nudged my back and I laughed. I then moved away and kissed her nose, telling her I would be aback in a minute. I had forgotten Tiernan, until I turned round and nearly smacked into him.

"do you want something?" I asked him politely.

"nope. I just saw you riding and decided to watch."

"well, you saw."

"I also wanted to apologise for angering you last night and this morning."

"apology accepted. Could I just get to where you're standing? I need her brushes"

He moved and I thanked him as I grabbed the equipment I needed and began to groom her, humming softly as I did.

"you look beautiful" I heard whispered.

"what?" I asked

I don't think I was supposed to have heard that as the expression on his face was similar to that of a child who's been found with their hand in the cookie jar. He cleared his throat, deciding that it would be better to tell me outright than to just cover it up.

"when you're with horses, you just look so naturally happy and content. You look beautiful" he admitted.

I blushed slightly at that.

"thank you"

He moved closer to me and reached a hand out. I nearly jumped back, but all he did was take a stray hair that had fallen into my face and tuck it behind my ear. I blushed and he smiled down at me. I suddenly found myself in the same situation as last night. I felt my head ,moving forward as his did, but cal suddenly shouted.

"Tiernan! Where are you?"

Tiernan pulled away and I quickly moved back to jet, furious again at myself for nearly kissing him when I really couldn't stand him. Ok I know he apologised, but he was still an ass. He smiled at me, before slipping out of the back entrance of the barn, just as cal entered the front.

"hey sis, have you seen Tiernan?"

"nope, try round the back. He may be having a walk or something" I answered, trying to hide the blush on my cheeks.

Cal nodded and disappeared off, allowing me to release the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding.

"what am I going to do jet?" I asked her.

She didn't respond, just carried on drinking her water. I smiled and finished grooming her, then moved onto the other horses and groomed them all before mucking them out and feeding them. Eventually, I decided to head back indoors so that I could shower before dinner was served. I always loose track of time when I'm out with the horses. I took one last look to make sure everything was done before I left.

This next couple of months were going to be interesting.


	11. Invite

The princes had been staying with us now for three weeks, and I was slowly going insane. Especially as for some reason cal and Tiernan had become like brothers and did everything together, which included teasing me. Usually, when they annoyed me too much, I would go and sit in my dad's study for a while, as I was pretty much the only person allowed in there.

Today, the guys hadn't annoyed me yet, but I was in such a good mood, I had decided to avoid them and catch up on my magic, as I had missed a few lessons recently. I stepped into the room, nearly catching my skirt in the door as it closed. The past couple of weeks, I had chosen to change my style slightly to make myself become more like the princess I was. I remember the shock on my dads face the first morning I came into breakfast, wearing a long pale blue dress with a golden edged bodice. It was a gorgeous dress, but was still practical for day to day activities. I own a bunch of dresses in all different styles, each one beautiful yet simple. I'm not big on going over the top. I had my hair down too, with a couple of plaits wound into my hair at the front.

I took a deep breath as I moved further into the room. I had always loved it in here, it had an almost earthy smell to it. I smiled as I moved over to the bookcase, but a movement from behind me stopped me. I turned and nearly screamed as I bumped into somebody's chest. A pair of hands grabbed my shoulders to stop me stumbling backwards.

"I'm so sorry your highness, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Cain?"

I looked up and Cain smiled at me. I blushed and smiled back at him, not quite sure what to say or do, as he still had his hands steadying me.

He must've suddenly remembered that he had his hands on my shoulders as he suddenly jumped and removed them. I smiled back at him again and thanked him, before stepping past him and moving over to my usual bookshelf, choosing out an emerald green book. I suddenly thought of something and spun round to face Cain again.

"why are you in here? Are you looking for my father?"

"actually no. I was waiting for you."

"may I enquire as to why?"

"yes you may. I was wondering if you would accompany me and be my partner for the dinner at the end of the week."

I didn't quite know what to say to that. In three days, we had all been invited back to the prince's home where there was going to be a banquet for queen Tatina's birthday. I took a moment to decide but eventually decided 'what the hell?'

"of course. I would love to go with you"

His face brightened up and he gave me a large smile. He took hold of my hand and gently kissed the back of it. He then stepped back and bowed.

"thanks you your highness. I look forward to Saturday."

"as do I. and Cain? My name's Rae. I'm not going to kill you for not calling me it you know"

He smiled again before leaving. I turned my gaze back to the book I was still holding and smiled softly. The door opened from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see my dad walk in.

He looked up and sent me a small smile as his eyes met mine. I smiled back before turning back to my book. I didn't notice him coming up to me until he spoke right next to me.

"you seem particularly elated today"

"I am dad, that would be why."

"care to explain?"

"Cain just asked me to be his partner for the banquet on Saturday."

I grinned up at him, and moved back slightly in surprise as I saw his eyes harden for a second and a look of worry glanced across his face.

"dad? What's wrong?"

I want you to be careful around him."

"why?"

"Tiernan believe it or not, is more like his mother on the inside; pure of hear and loyal. Cain is his father through and through; cold hearted and demanding. Just please be careful. I'm not going to stop you from seeing him, just don't let him hurt you."

I was slightly angry at that, but only because I am still only a teenager and I felt as though he was going all defensive of me. I calmed down pretty quickly though as I let what he had told me sink in. Cain? Evil? I think dad had gotten the two lads the wrong way round, so I decided to be a bit more careful around Tiernan rather than Cain.

"honey?"

"huh? Oh, yeah. I'll be careful, I promise."

"thank you"

I didn't say anything else, just nodded before leaving, deciding that I wasn't in the mood for magic today.

Before long, I found myself walking through the gardens, happily watching the birds as they flew around, diving and darting in the air, performing a magnificent display.

"good afternoon."

"go away."

"there's no need for hostility."

"Tiernan, just back off and leave me alone!" I yelled.

I turned to angrily face him, only to find my breath being taken away. He was wearing no shirt, and he was soaking wet, his hair plastered over his face, and beads of water trailing slowly down his smooth chest, moving along with the muscles on his stomach. I swallowed a small lump in my throat and turned away as I realised that he had noticed that I was staring. Come on, I'm a teenage girl with hormones for gods sake! Of course I'm going to stare, I mean, who wouldn't.

I heard him move, before I suddenly felt his arms wrap round me and he pressed himself up against me, causing me to shiver but whether it was from pleasure or the fact that I was getting wet, I didn't know. All I knew is that every practical of my being was screaming to walk away, slap him, do anything, but for some reason, I found that I just couldn't do it. Instead, I sighed.

"why are you doing this?"

"doing what?"

"one minute, all you can do is insult me and hurt me, the next minute you're doing things like this. I don't get it."

"well, you see…"

He was cut off as I heard Cain calling my name. I quickly pulled away from Tiernan and straightened myself out before moving away from him and towards Cain. I saw Cain give Tiernan a funny look, and when I looked back, Tiernan was glaring at his brother with such anger, I felt a teensy bit afraid. I shivered again, this time because I was cold, and Cain gave me his cloak, that I gratefully draped over my shoulders. He began to lead me away back up to the castle, and took me up to my room. As I thanked him and opened my door, he suddenly grabbed hold of me and gently placed his lips on mine, only for a brief second. He let me go again and brushed his hand against my face.

"you're beautiful"

"thanks"

He smiled and let me go. I moved into my room, and as I shut it behind me, I sank to the floor, holding my head in my hands.

What was wrong with me?


	12. The Banquet

It had arrived. The day of the banquet. I was so nervous, even more nervous than I had been the day of the twin's ball. Last time I didn't know anybody. This time I still virtually knew nobody, but I had a date. Not just any date, but a date with one of the princes of the fairy kingdom.

I tried to calm the nerves in my stomach, but it didn't work. Dad kept sending me worried glances as I barely ate anything during lunch, but once I assured him I was fine, I moved up to my room to get ready. It didn't take long to have my bath and wash my hair, but I knew that the long part would be choosing what to wear. In the end, I opted for quite a summery dress that was an icy blue colour down to the knees, where it was then white underneath. The bodice had a fine golden thread running through it in a criss-crossed pattern wrapped round my body. The sleeves reached my elbow in the blue, before becoming a very fine and delicate netting as it flared out over my wrists. I loved the neckline on this dress. It was sweetheart, so it gracefully dipped downwards into a smooth line, just low enough to show my neck, but still high enough up to hide my breasts.

After dressing, I moved over to my makeup table. I brushed a silver eye shadow onto each eyelid, adding eyeliner in the same colour. I wore a bluey silver lipstick to complement my skin tone too. I brushed my hair, using magic to dry it, then swept it up into a loose ponytail, letting a few strands fall out of it, that I curled. I then also curled the main ponytail, before looking in the mirror, smiling at how well all the colours came out. Normally, I tended to not wear makeup as I was scared to get it wrong, which had happened to me on more than one occasion. I sighed in relief as this time it had actually worked. The next thing I did was choose my accessories. I decided against wearing a necklace as I didn't have one that went with my outfit. I put a pale blue earring in each ear, then put my ring on that cal had given me for our sixteenth birthday. It was a silver Celtic band, but one of the strands was a deep, midnight blue, that spelt out my name. the last thing I wore were a few small crystals that slid into my hair, and twinkled slightly in the light, just enough to look nice without blinding everyone.

Pleased with my looks, I turned to leave my room, when there was a knock on my door. I opened it to see Tiernan standing there. As he saw me, he took a step back, and I frowned

"what do you want?"

"huh? Oh, Cain asked me to collect you as my room is nearest to yours and he didn't want you to be alone tonight."

"aww, how sweet of him." 'too bad it had to be you', I muttered under my breath.

Unfortunately, he heard me. His smile faded, and for a second I could have sworn a look of hurt flashed in his eyes, but when I looked closer, it had been replaced with a look of anger, making me believe I had been imagining it.

"Lets just go, shall we?"

"fine"

I grudgingly took his arm that he offered me and we walked off to the hall.

As we reached the staircase and began to walk down it, a bright light flashed in my face, and I yelled, rubbing my eyes so that I could see where it came from. As my vision cleared, I saw Cain next to me about to offer me his hand, and as I looked at the bottom of the stairs, I saw Tiernan with cal in a headlock, ruffling his hair up. Dad was standing to one side, laughing at the pair of them while trying to be stern and tell them off at the same time. It wasn't working very well. It was then that I noticed the camera at cal's feet. Ignoring the hand that Cain was offering me, I moved down the stairs as quickly as I could, grabbing the camera off the floor and handing it to dad, asking him to keep hold of it for a minute. He raised a questioning eyebrow, and I smiled at him before moving over to the two young men still struggling against each other and tapping Tiernan on the arm, asking him to release my brother for a minute. He did so, and I grabbed cal, pulling him over to one side.

"what are you doing?" I hissed.

He just gave me a smile that looked just like Tiernan, and I groaned inwardly. Clearly he had been spending too much time with the prince of doom. I slapped his arm, and his smile only widened.

"you two looked like such a cute coupe, I couldn't resist"

"when you go through those photos tonight, you are to erase that one, got it?"

He did a mock bow, and I slapped him again, only stopping when a sudden barrier physically pulled us apart. I glanced over at dad to see that his features had hardened and he was sending Cain a scathing look, one that sent a shiver up my spine. At that point, he wasn't dad, he was Jareth, King of the Goblins. It was when he did things like that that I was reminded just how powerful and even cruel he could be. Cal looked between me and dad in confusion, before shrugging and moving over to rejoin Tiernan. I sighed before rubbing my forehead and moving over to Cain, gently taking hold of the arm he offered me. He smiled and I smiled back, making a mental note to ask dad later why he gave Cain that look.

………………………………......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

The evening passed relatively quickly, and thankfully for me, I had no run ins with Tiernan all might, which meant I was able to keep my focus on Cain. Towards the end of the evening, I started to feel very claustrophobic, and leant up to Cain's ear to tell him that I was going for some air. He offered to accompany me, but I told him to stay and dance with someone else for a few minutes. I quickly moved over to the exit and walked around until I finally found a quiet space where I could be alone. I sat down on a pale grey stone bench, and as I tilted my head back, I heard the sound of water running.

Curious, I decided to go and have a look. It only took about twenty seconds before I found a small brook running through the grounds. I smiled as I saw a small clearing of land next to the brook that was only filled with a weeping willow, one of my all time favourite plants. I sat down underneath the willow and gazed out at the brook, shivering slightly as I noticed how much the temperature had dropped.

Suddenly out of nowhere, I felt something soft and warm being draped over my shoulders. A cloak. I snapped my head up and quietly groaned as I saw Tiernan kneeling down near me. He smiled at me, but I didn't smile back.

"you could say thank you."

"for what?"

He didn't answer, just pointed at the deep blue cloak I was now wearing.

"oh. Thank you"

He smiled again, and this time, I gave him a very small one back. We sat there in an awkward silence for a while, and I gave him a glance out of the side of my eye. He looked stunning at that minute. The moon was shining on the water and reflecting onto him, the ripples shining on his face, lighting up and accentuating his features to make him look even more handsome. He sighed and turned back to look at me.

"believe it or not, very few people know where this place is."

"really? But, it's so beautiful"

"I know. It's selfish in a way, but I didn't want anyone to find it so I put a spell on it. It means that I can come here when I need time to myself, and know that no-one can find me."

"how was I able to find it?"

"because I let you. I saw you leave and followed you. When you moved this way, I decided to let you see it"

"why?"

"dunno. I just felt like it."

I sat there and didn't respond. We fell into another silence, but a much more relaxed and comfortable one. I had a million things whizzing through my mind, the main one being why he had let me see this place., I didn't believe that he didn't know why, I could see it in his eyes that he hid something from me.

I suddenly shivered again, harder this time, and Tiernan stood up, offering me his hand and gently helping me onto my feet and walking back to the castle with me. As we entered, he slid his cloak off me and disappeared into the crowd of people, just as Cain appeared next to me and grasped my arm.

"you're warm" he stated.

"yeah, I kept rubbing my arms which helped."

I could tell he didn't believe me, but there was something about the way he looked at me that made me slightly uncomfortable. We danced a bit more, until there was an announcement that the guests were to please start returning to their homes. Cain took hold of my arm and as we moved towards my dad, who was talking to another fae, he smiled at me. He told my dad we were going to go ahead of everyone, and my dad nodded, telling Cain to take care of me.

As we reached home, Cain walked me to my room. Just before I opened it, he tilted my head up and kissed me. I slowly wrapped my arms round his neck, but he took hold of them and unwrapped them, pinning them either side of my body and pushing me gently against the wall, trying to deepen the kiss. I was slightly scared as I could feel that the way he held me, I wouldn't be able to easily free myself, but then my mind reminded me that it was Cain, he wasn't going to hurt me. I kissed him back until a cough from behind us made us move apart. We turned to see cal behind us, and he smiled as I moved away from Cain, before moving down the corridor to his room.

"umm, that was awkward. Well, umm, goodnight." I said to Cain.

Cain gave me a soft smile and pecked me on the cheek.

"goodnight. Sweet dreams."

I moved into my room and shun the door behind me, heart pounding against my chest. It was an almost perfect kiss, but why didn't I feel very happy over it?


	13. The start of Cain's true personality

The following week, I was met with many funny looks from cal, each one that had me clipping him round the head and telling him to leave me alone. Each time, he just responded by walking off muttering 'Rae and Cain, sitting in a tree'. I had to refrain from completely killing him, as I'm sure that even though I am the princess, I still couldn't get away with murdering anybody. Even when said person deserved it.

I was walking down the corridor trying to calm myself down when I turned round a corner and smacked into a solid mass that sent me flying onto the ground. I groaned and looked up to see Cain smiling down at me, extending his hand out to help me back up onto my feet. I took hold of it and gave him a grateful smile, glad that it hadn't been Tiernan that had seen me fall. I received enough torment from him without that being added to it thank you very much.

"you seem to have a habit of falling over" he joked.

I groaned at him.

"please don't you start teasing me too. I get it enough from your darling dear brother, not to mention my own one."

Cain frowned as I mentioned Tiernan, but he then smiled as I finished what I said, before he then started laughing. I joined in with him and the pair of us started walking down the corridor. As we reached the main entrance, dad appeared near us and gave Cain yet another funny look. I raised my eyebrow, and dad gave me a small smile, before turning a steady, cool gaze onto Cain. I felt Cain's arm wrap round my waist, and he pulled me tighter into him. Unfortunately, there was a mirror behind dad, so I saw the look that Cain gave him. It was an almost predatorial look, one that clearly told my dad that I belonged to Cain.

I wanted to push away then, as I could see the glow that usually surrounded my dad fade darker and darker, until it was almost black. Either he ignored it, or he just didn't see it, but Cain didn't respond to the change in dad's aura, instead, just flashing me a smile before leading me outside into the gardens. I looked back over my shoulder towards dad, but he had already gone, which left me with the feeling of panic. Suddenly, I didn't feel safe. Suddenly, I felt like I was in danger.

I tried to push those thoughts down as I kept reminding myself that Cain hadn't tried to hurt me and had never shown any inclination that he would ever do anything to me. With those thoughts in my mind, I eventually calmed down, but one part of me still remained slightly wary, and I found myself consciously trying not to walk close to him, however, it was hard to do as he kept his arm firmly wrapped round me, rendering me unable to escape from him.

As we moved outside, Cain directed us over to the stables, and took me inside before he moved over to one of the horses. I slid over to jet, and as I buried my face in her mane and she nuzzled into my hair, I felt myself completely relax, to the point that I actually forgot that Cain was with me, until he put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped in shock.

"sorry! I completely forgot you were there!"

He chuckled at that, and gave me a swift kiss.

"it's no problem. I had no idea that you liked horses."

I turned my head to give him a side glance at that, and inside, my stomach churned in worry. Something about the way he said that didn't sit overly well.

"why did you bring me here then?""well, I wanted some time alone with you, and I know that very few people come in here."

Before I could say anything, he suddenly lurched forward, and pressed me against the side of the stall, crashing his mouth down onto mine and pinning my arms to my side as he had done the week before after the banquet. This time though, he was hurting me, and I could feel my arms bruising as I tried to fight him off. I tried to move my mouth away from his, and I think he thought that I was accepting him or something, as his grip tightened even more as he forced his mouth even harder. I tried crying out, to do anything for help, but all that came out was a muffled squeak.

I heard the stable door open from behind us, and my heart leapt with relief. If only whoever it was could see me. Cain didn't hear it as he moved his hand up my body and started undoing my zipper at the back of my dress. Unfortunately, whoever had come in turned back and went to go back out, and a tear slipped down my face. Jet suddenly whinnied and started thrashing about and making a load of noise, and I could see how careful she was to not hit me. She caught Cain on the shoulder though, and he let go of me with a cry. He glared at both me and jet, before slipping out the back door of her stall, leaving me behind to slide down onto the floor, shaking and trying desperately hard not to start crying.

"hello? Who's in here?" the person asked.

Tiernan. I sighed in relief, but I was still so scared, I physically couldn't open my mouth to speak. Fortunately, jet was still thrashing around, and Tiernan came over to calm her down. I tried to shuffle over so that he wouldn't see me, but the movement must've caught his attention.

"what on earth? Rae?!"

Jet settled down as she let him in, and he quickly moved over to me and brushed the hair back off my face. He gasped as I flinched and I also tried to hide the fact that my dress was falling down.

"who did this to you?" he growled.

I flinched again at the harshness in his voice, and his whole body softened as he put an arm round me. I sank into him, not afraid to cry, and he gently rubbed my arms.

"I'm going to get your dad. The person who did this can't get away with it."

He stood up to find my dad, but I panicked and grabbed his arm.

"no! please, don't! I'll be fine, honestly. I just want to forget about it."

I let go of him and he sat back down next to me. I leant against him and smiled slightly as he put his arm round me again. I was still shaken up from what Cain did, but thankfully, I don't think Tiernan recognised my attacker, so I had no worries of anyone finding out. A few minutes later, I pulled myself together and started standing up, Tiernan quickly jumping up to help me to my feet. He offered to walk me back to my room, but I declined, stating that I would rather just go on my own so that no-one else would question me.

"ah, but aren't they going to question you more because you're on your own?"

I sighed, knowing I was defeated. He held his arm out for me and I took it, allowing him to walk me to my room. I didn't let him take me to my door though. The last twice I had let someone do that, I ended up with today, so I felt much safer leaving him at the bottom of the corridor while I moved to my room by myself.

The second my door was shut, I ran to the bathroom and started running a bath. As I removed my dress, I threw it in the bin, not wanting to keep it anymore as I knew the memory would haunt me if I did. I sank into the bath when it was full and winced as I looked down at my arms. Both were bruised so badly I could actually see the outline of Cain's hands, and my left one actually had small cuts embedded in it from where his nails had been digging into my skin.

Despite the fact it was still quite early, I called for Kinney and asked him to tell my dad I was going to miss dinner as I was exhausted. He scurried off and I moved back into my room, locking the door behind me. As I lay down on the bed, my tears came again, thick and fast, and soon I was sobbing into my pillow until eventually, I was so exhausted, I had no choice but to drift off into an uncomfortable sleep.


	14. Tiernan's Banishment

The following morning, there was a knock on my door, and I opened it to see Cain standing there, a blood red rose in his hand. My arm subconsciously moved to where he had hurt me yesterday, and he smiled sadly at me, his eyes full of remorse.

"please forgive me, your highness. I should not have let my emotions overrule me. Please find it in your heart to forgive me."

He said his words with such sorrow and emotion, my heart swelled and I found myself accepting the rose of him and giving him a small smile.

"assure me it will never happen again"

"you have my complete assurance. Never again will I lay a hand on your person unless you wish it."

"thank you, but I do not forgive you for yesterday, nor will I forget it, but I do not wish for us to lose our friendship. Now, I will be downstairs shortly."

He bowed with an angered expression before turning and leaving. As soon as he had gone, I threw the rose across the room. I didn't appreciate it when people had to use props like roses to apologise. It was pathetic really. I quickly washed before throwing on a golden coloured dress, this one slightly longer than the one I had been wearing yesterday. I was determined that Cain would not have the chance to attack me again, so I used my magic to create a garter to strap round my thigh that concealed a small dagger that I could use for my protection.

As I moved downstairs, I felt a pair of small hands grasp one of my own hands, and I looked down to see Connor grinning up at me.

"hey Rae. I haven't seen you for ages!"

I laughed, and he laughed with me.

"no you haven't and I apologise for that. Forgive me?"

He hugged me then, and I picked him up to carry him to the dining room, ignoring his giggled protests until we actually entered the room, where I had to put him down as I could tell from my dad's stance and face that something was wrong.

"dad? Is something wrong?"

He looked up at us, but didn't even raise a smile, just stared at me with a cool, steady gaze. He then looked at Connor and his eyes softened greatly.

"Connor, would you mind giving me and your sister some time along please?"

Connor nodded and slipped out the door, making sure to shut it behind him. Immediately, dad's eyes hardened again, and I found myself flinching under his scrutiny.

"sit down."

"I would prefer to stand thank you."

"I said sit DOWN!"

I had never heard him raise his voice before, and so the shock of this caused me to drop onto a chair in a stunned silence. He stood up and moved next to me, pulling my dress sleeve up and glaring in pure fury as he saw the bruises.

"WHO did this to you?"

I dropped my head and stared at the table, but this just caused him to demand that I answered him.

"it was nothing dad, I'm fine."

"it was Cain wasn't it? I warned you about him!"

"you're wrong! It wasn't him! Please, just leave it alone!"

Tiernan chose that moment to walk in, but for a split second, I thought it was Cain and my eyes widened in fear as I thought he had heard dad accusing him of attacking me. Dad saw the look on my face, and he let go of my arm before striding over to Tiernan and slamming him against a wall with his magic.

"stop it!" I screamed.

He ignored me and glared at Tiernan, who looked back in confusion, but was unable to speak as whatever my dad had done to him prevented him from doing so.

"how dare you try to defile my daughter!?" he spat.

Both myself and Tiernan looked at him in horror, and I could have groaned as I realised that my slip up had led him to believe it had been Tiernan who did this to me. Dad glared even harder at Tiernan.

"you are to go back to your people in disgrace, and you are to never step foot on these lands again!!"

There was a loud crack and I closed my eyes as a bright light lit the room. As I reopened them, I saw that Tiernan had vanished.

"where is he?" I asked.

"he is back in his homeland, and I have cast a spell on him that will prevent him from ever returning to this land."

I started shaking then. Never come back? But what if Cain tried again? Cal couldn't protect me as he knew no magic so would be no match. At least with Tiernan on my side I would have stood a chance. Dad must've mistaken my shaking as relief.

"I know, you're glad he's gone. Maybe you should go for a walk, clear your mind a bit."

"yes, I think I shall" I answered.

As soon as I shut the door behind me, I ran down the hall, and headed straight for the stables, where I ran in and threw my arms round Jet's neck, sobbing into her soft hair. She whinnied gently in a comforting gesture, and I sobbed harder, guilt wracking through my body. How could I do that to Tiernan? Why did I say Cain hadn't done it? Because of me, Tiernan was now banished in disgrace, and he didn't even do anything! I had a rightful moment at that point as an idea came into my mind. Making sure that no-one was around, I transported myself to Tiernan's land.

As soon as I arrived, I began calling out for him, but after three servants said that he had been in the garden before disappearing, I knew exactly where he was. I ran over to his secret brook and stepped into the clearing, sighing in relief as I saw him standing underneath the willow tree, his back to me.

"Tiernan?"

His back stiffened and he turned to stare at me, his face full of anger and betrayal.

"what?"

"please do not be angry with me!""you betrayed me, Rae! You made it look as if I had been the one to attack you! Why would you do that? I know you don't exactly like me, but what was the point of that?"

"I thought you were Cain! that's why I panicked!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I gasped as I realised what I had just said. Tiernan's eyes widened and he stepped up to me, gently taking my face in his hands and forcing me to look at him.

"**Cain **did this?"

"yes he did." I whispered.

He let go of me and clenched his fists together, his face hardening with anger.

"I'm going to kill him."

"you can't. you cant go back there."

" how will you protect yourself if you go back?"

"I don't know, but I have to go back. I can't hide from him forever, but dad's too angry right now for me to tell him the truth, I need to give him a few days to cool down."

Tiernan's eyes softened then, and he reached out to grasp both my hands. I looked up at him, and found myself trying not to blush at the intensity of his gaze. He slowly lowered his head until his lips met mine in a soft kiss. I moved my arms to wrap them round the back of his head as I had tried to do with Cain, and as Cain did, he moved his arms to grasp mine, but before I could freeze, he just rested them on mine and rubbed his hands up and down my arms, before winding his arms round my waist to pull me into him, deepening the kiss slightly. I sighed gently as I ran my hands through his hair. He smiled against my mouth, and then moaned as I stroked the back of his neck. I felt his arms move upwards again, and they moved to skim across my breasts, but just as they did, heard my dad's voice inside my head.

"where are you?""I went for a walk"

"well, Connor wants to see you."

I pulled away from Tiernan at that, and gave him an apologetic look as I began to move from him.

"I have to go. I left my little brother back home and he needs me."

"I understand. Just be careful"

"I will."

As I moved to walk out of the clearing, his arms wrapped round me, and one of his hands moved up my skirt. I nearly screamed, but he pulled out my dagger and studied it carefully. I blushed and looked away from him.

"I'm impressed. Keep this on you at all times."

"I will."

He let me go again and I returned the blade back to it's holster. He gave me one last kiss, that I had to break before we got too carried away, and I quickly transported myself back home, almost in a daze as I suddenly realised what I had done.

I had actually kissed Tiernan.


	15. Cain Wins

I arrived back to the castle in a daze and moved up to my room, where I stayed all day. I even asked for my food to be sent to my room as I didn't want to face either dad or Cain again today. Unfortunately dad decided to come and visit me later on in the evening. I opened the door to let him in and he sat on the edge of my bed, his face set in a grim expression.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I have to leave. I need to speak with king Midera about Tiernan"

"Dad, there's something I need to tell you."

The look he gave me stopped me in his tracks. This must've been what mum meant when she told me how frightening he could be.

"I will be back tomorrow evening"

He then drew himself back up to his full height, still giving me the same look, before disappearing. I sighed and dropped my head into my hands, panicking slightly. He would be gone for nearly 24 hours, and cal was aboveground yet again with uncle Toby, leaving me alone with Cain for company. Just great.

I flopped back onto my bed and stared at the ceiling, but before long I was asleep. I dreamt that I was lounging on the grass outside in clear view of everyone when suddenly Cain appeared and finished off what he had attempted to do the other day, but even though I screamed and shouted for help, no one could see or hear me. The only person who could was Tiernan, but he was trapped behind an invisible barrier, unable to help as dad had banished him. I screamed and frantically thrashed about to get him off me, but nothing worked, he just carried on.

I woke up with a scream, and as I sat up shaking, I realised that sheen of sweat had appeared across my face. I moved over to my bathroom and washed my face, before deciding that as the sun was rising, I would get up and get ready for the day ahead. My plan was to stay in my room all day, but as usual, something happened to hinder that plan. A few hours after I had woken, Kinney knocked on my door, looking scared and anxious.

"Kinney? What on earth is the matter?"

"Jet, she's poorly!" he squeaked.

My eyes flew wide open and I threw a pair of shoes on before using my magic to transport the pair of us to the stables.

As soon as we arrived, I raced in to her stable, to see her lying down on her side, panting heavily. I quickly moved over to her and the goblins all moved aside to give me more room. I listened to her breathing for a minute and looked all over her body, and suddenly I realised what was wrong. I hit my forehead. How had I not even noticed? I was so stupid!

"Kinney, I need warm water and a towel. Hurken, please get me a fresh pail of water for Jet. Go now!"

They ran off and I turned my attention back to Jet.

"Come on girl, you can pull through this, I know you can!" I mumbled to myself.

Once the goblins returned, I made them leave as I needed privacy. As the door shut behind me, I placed the towel over her stomach and poured half of the warm water over her. She whinnied in protest, but I shushed her as I began to gently knead at her stomach. Before long, I felt the twist, and gradually worked on it until I felt it start to loosen. I threw the rest of the water over that spot and continued to knead it until finally; I felt it slide back into place. Jet's laboured breathing slowed right down and within minutes, she was standing and drinking out if her pail. I called the goblins back in and they all looked at me, amazed.

"She had colic. All you do is gently press her stomach until you eventually work the knot out."

I patted her and stayed with her a while before shivering slightly. I had gotten wet while I had been throwing the water over and now that I was cooling down, the coldness started getting to me.

I stayed for a few minutes, and once I was satisfied that she was going to be ok, I left her with the goblins and headed back to the castle. As reached the hallway to my room, I saw Cain standing at the bottom of the steps, and I froze, my fists clenching slightly as I forced myself to calm down.

"I hear your horse was ill. Is she ok?"

"She will be fine, now excuse me, I need to change as these clothes are cold."

He looked me up and down, and I found myself blushing as I realised that my chest was both wet and cold, and I was wearing a white dress and bra. I tried to push past him, but as I did, he grasped my upper arm.

"You look beautiful"

"Please let me go" I whispered, my voice shaking slightly.

Before I knew it, he pinned me against the wall and hungrily crushed his mouth to mine. I managed to free one of my arms, and tried to move my hand up my dress to my dagger, but Cain made a fatal flaw. While he was busy kissing me, he used his free hand to move up the inside of my skirt, but he ended up finding the dagger. He froze as he pulled it out, and this gave me enough time to quickly lift my knee up and hit him straight in the stomach. As he fell down, I ran up to my room, and slammed the door behind me, willing it to lock. I tested the handle, relieved that it had actually locked. I quickly ran to the door that led to my dad's office and as soon as I was there, I collapsed onto one of the chairs, gasping for breath. That was close. Too close.

I thought I would be safe but I was wrong, less than a minute later Cain appeared in the office with me, and I screamed as he grabbed each side of the chair, trapping me.

"You think I didn't know that the tunnel lead here? You silly, silly girl."

I glared at him, and he sneered before tipping my chair backwards. I yelled as I flew backwards and cringed when my back hit the floor. Cain came towards me, and I saw he held my knife in his hand.

"Just what were you going to do with this? Maybe this?" as he spoke, he sliced through my dress at my stomach, splitting the skin slightly open as he did. A tear ran down my face and he smiled at me. "No? Maybe this, then." another slice, this time just above my left breast. Another tear, another smile. "Or even this" this time, he sliced straight up the right side of my dress, so that the fabric pooled into a pile onto the floor.

I gasped and quickly tried to get away, but he grabbed me and threw me into a bookcase. I cried out in pain as my back slammed onto it, and I sank to the floor, clutching at my stomach that was bleeding even more. I saw Cain walk over to me, and I tried to crawl away, but he just grabbed my hair and threw me into the middle of the room.

"Tiernan! Help!" I screamed.

Cain laughed cruelly and pushed me onto the floor. I noticed something out of the corner of my eyes, and the image made me shake with fear. My dream was coming true in a way. I could see Tiernan trying to get to me, but because he was banished, he was unable to break through the barrier. Cain moved above me and removed his trousers. I closed my eyes and moved my head so that I couldn't see him, and suddenly, I felt pain like no other rip through me as he finally succeeded to claim me as his. I could do nothing except cry and scream as the pain tore at me. I was powerless, unable to do anything except let him carry on.

When he finished, he stood up and put his trousers back on, before kissing me gently on the lips. I just wanted to throw up. I felt so hurt and betrayed, but also ashamed of myself. I had actually let myself be raped. Even Robert had never done anything as bad as this to me.

"Rae!?" I heard someone shout.

Dad! He was back! I tried to call out, but a look from Cain silenced me.

"You, my love will stay here. I will convince your father that you are sleeping, and he will go back to my father. Then I'll be back for you."

As the door shut behind him, I shuddered at the thought of him repeating his actions, so I forced myself to get up off the floor. After successfully not passing out, something I desperately wanted to do, I gathered all my strength to transport myself to Tiernan's brook. As I arrived, I tried to keep enough strength to be able to call for help, but the loss of blood and the shock of what had happened caused my head to spin, and soon, I faded into blackness.


	16. Jareth finds out

_**Ok, for this chapter, I have decided that as Rae passed out in the previous chapter, she won't know what happened, and if I write from her waking up, it will just get complicated, so this chapter will be in none other than Jareth's p.o.v. I really hope I do this right…**_

Cain told me that Rae was sleeping, even went to the extent of showing me that she was in her room, but did he forget just how much more powerful I was than him? I could immediately see that it was NOT my daughter in that bed, it was magic. Anger and worry flew through me. Of course, I had noticed the possessive look he held when he looked at Rae, but up until now, because they were partners, I let it slide. But now, my daughter was missing and Cain was using magic to deceive me, and that, I would not stand for.

"Where is my daughter?" I calmly asked him.

"Right there" he answered me, with a smug expression on his face.

I growled and took a step towards him.

"It would be very wise not to lie to me. Now I will ask one more time. Where is my daughter and what have you done to her?"

Cain realised that I had sussed out his plan as his face paled slightly, and he looked like he was about to run. In fact, he did try to run, but one flick of my wrist had him flying backwards and hitting the wall, where he was now securely pinned. I left him there and went to find Rae, but after searching the whole castle, I realised she was nowhere to be seen. I moved into my study and straight away I could tell that this had been the last room she was in. I closed my eyes and focussed my thoughts. I had to find out what had happened in here. The images that flowed through my mind filled me with rage, and the second my eyes reopened, I transported straight into Rae's room, fully intending on destroying the young prince.

However, as I reached the room, I noticed that he had vanished. Enraged, I transported to Midera's castle and moved into the room the king himself was in.

"Jareth? What brings you here again so soon?"

"Actually, your son does"

"Tiernan?"

"No. Cain. I don't know what he did, but he has done something to my daughter."

Midera looked thoughtful for a minute, then turned to look at me.

"Cain isn't here. I've just felt for him but I can't sense him anywhere near the castle or the kingdom."

"Thank you my friend. I need to find Rae, but I have no idea where she could be."

I heard a door open from behind me followed by somebody entering. I turned to see Tiernan standing there, but before I could apologise for my poor treatment towards him, he spoke.

"I think I know where she is."

I followed him as he led me out into the gardens, then stopped at a bench. Just as I asked him why we were here, he vanished, but his head reappeared a few seconds later, a panicked expression on his face.

"She's here! But she looks terrible! I don't think she's breathing."

I pushed past him and the second I saw my daughter, my breath hitched. She was lying beneath a willow tree, naked and bleeding. Her skin was a sickly grey colour and her lips were parted slightly, indicating that she was unconscious. I ran over to her and picked her up into my arms.

"Tell your father that you are coming to my castle and won't be returning until she's recovered. You are no longer banished."

Tiernan nodded and disappeared as I located back to my castle. As soon as I arrived, I called for the medics and before long, they had raced off with my daughter. Now I just had to wait.


	17. The End for now

_We're back to Rae's p.o.v for the rest of the story now…_

I woke up, and the first thing I realised was that I was indoors, lying on a soft bed. I gasped and sat up quickly, wincing at the pain that flowed through my body at the movement.

"Rae?"

I jumped at the sound, but saw my dad walk into the room a few seconds later. His eyes softened as he saw me, and the first thing he did was wrapped me into a strong embrace. He held me while I cried, and rocked me, calmly soothing me the whole time. When I calmed down, he gazed into my eyes and asked me to tell him exactly what happened. I swallowed down the lump in my throat before telling him everything. His face darkened with anger, and I found myself actually shrinking away from him as I realised that this was the side of him that mom always told me about.

Dad explained to me that Cain had been caught and imprisoned, and so there was no need to me to fear him any longer. Tiernan had also been relieved of his ban, and had also been given dad's blessing to see me whenever he liked. Like now for instance. As dad left the room, Tiernan walked in, and took my hand before lowering his head to mine and capturing my mouth in a fiery, passionate kiss.

I was safe, Cain was gone, and I had found the man I loved. Everything turned out ok.

_I know this is a poor ending but I just wanted to finish this story. I may update and improve it at a later date, but I hope this is ok for now._

_Thanks for putting up with this. I really appreciate it. Speak soon xx_


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